Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Paid parental leave will push up prices in shops?


Gerry Harvey has a word for labor's incredibly stupid claim:

"That’s crap. It is 100% crap. It’s like saying that Harvey Norman will put up the price of our fridges or something like that. Well, look, we won’t. The tax rate is the tax rate. We’re trying to make a profit before tax."

Here he is with Janine Perrett on Sky News:


"Janine Perrett: We’re seeing changes to the Coalition’s parental leave
policy, that’s going to be an impost on business. Is that one big difference?

Gerry Harvey: Minor difference. I mean you know they’re spinning a story at the
moment that if you put up the tax rate from 30 to 32, then Woolworths and Coles
will put up their prices of groceries. That’s crap. It is 100% crap. It’s like saying
that Harvey Norman will put up the price of our fridges or something like that.
Well, look, we won’t. The tax rate is the tax rate. We’re trying to make a profit
before tax. That’s what we try to make. Even if the tax rate went to 40%, the
price of your groceries won’t go up.

Janine Perrett: So if the Coalition puts a 1.7 or 1.5% levy on bigger businesses
for parental leave, you’re saying that won’t be passed on to the consumer as far
as you’re concerned?

Gerry Harvey: No. It’s a tax. Like I was around when the company tax rate was
47, well, I can’t remember, 48%, it was 45%, it was 40%, it was 37%. It had zero
anything to do with what price we actually sold goods at. That was the tax rate.
It’s another argument."





Related Posts

. Wednesday Column: Swan, Rudd and Tanner are stuffing things up big-time

. Meanwhile, in Norway, where the RSPT is 50 per cent...

. Ben Smith: What the government should do with its mining tax