Greg Jericho
Chief Economist

Angus Taylor:

“And meal deductions will give 98% of Australian businesses a tax cut when they invest in productive assets”

Angus is trying to suggest that taking your mates out for a round of golf and framing it as a business meeting is “investing in productive assets”!

In his Budget Reply Speech Peter Dutton gave this actual example – “It will allow the local real estate agency or a builder to take staff to a local cafe to celebrate a big sales event or simply to say thank you to their hardworking employees.”

I mean, wonderful, but why on earth should taxpayers be paying for a real estate agency to go out to lunch? And how on earth can they say this will improve productivity. All it will mean is workers probably have to spend more time with their bosses so they can justify claiming their dinner as a business expense.