Joe Hockey hits back at Peter Costello's 'morbid joke'

oe Hockey hits back at Peter Costello's 'morbid joke' tax criticism

By political correspondent Emma Griffiths
Updated 18 minutes ago
PHOTO: Treasurer Joe Hockey rings the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.(ABC News)
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Treasurer Joe Hockey has hit back at his Liberal predecessor Peter Costello, rejecting criticism that the Government's tax policy looks like a "morbid joke".
Mr Costello, who was treasurer for 11 years in the Howard government, has written an opinion piece in News Corp newspapers, declaring that the current debate about tax is "debased".
He said the Coalition's mantra of wanting "lower, simpler, fairer" taxes had given way to demands for "higher, more complicated and less economic" taxes.
"'Lower, simpler, fairer is looking like some kind of morbid joke," Mr Costello said.
Mr Hockey, who is in New York for meetings with G20 counterparts and the International Monetary Fund, said "Mr Costello is wrong".
"Quite frankly, I really wish I had the revenue that Peter Costello had," he told the ABC's AM program.
Do you think Mr Costello's criticism of the Government's tax policy is fair? Have your say.
"If I had the same revenue as he had, then I'd be getting $25 billion extra each year to spend on things."
In particular, Mr Costello has criticised the current Liberal government for pursuing a tax on bank deposits and a so-called "Google Tax" to target multi-nationals who shift profits to pay more tax overseas.
And he has called on the Government to address bracket creep — as more lower and middle-income Australians are pushed into higher income tax brackets even if their wages are rising only with inflation.

• http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-...er-costello-morbid-joke-tax-criticism/6390338