|
Well its only a tax cut if you ignore the knock-on consequences. The lost tariff revenue actually means that the government needs to increase other taxes or cut back on spending to stay still in fiscal terms. Maybe you think the government could live with a lower budget surplus or just print some more money, but sooner or later that puts pressure on interest rates or inflation etc, so to see it as a tax cut seems pretty myopic. Whatever you want to call it however, the bottom line is that Australians (and not just the government) lose out from the trade diversion that bilateral trade deals cause, and I think that's the real issue.
| 
