The plan would cost the government $1.7 billion a year and result in the cost of an arts degree falling from $50,000 to $28,000.
If Richardson wishes to campaign against tax breaks for those on higher incomes,he could choose to start with superannuation,family trusts,negative gearing,capital gains discounts and franking credits.
While Australians should contribute to the cost of their tertiary education,the current system has imposed an unreasonable burden on many young people.
If we give a $16 billion tax break to people on higher incomes who went to university,then we’ll have to get that pound of flesh from the people who didn’t.
Student debt has reached about $81 billion. The government receives far more in student repayments than it does from the gas industry through the petroleum resource rent tax.
Every Australian with a student debt will be relieved to learn the government has finally heeded their distress.
The salary threshold at which student loans must be repaid will rise more than $10,000 a year under a federal Labor policy shift that will make the average HELP debt-holder $680 a year better off.
University debts could be slashed by up to 20 per cent under an Albanese government plan targeted at young voters.
In just five years,the number of people with six-figure debt has more than doubled.
On average,students in Western Australia pay more than $20,000 for a degree – more than students in the eastern states – and it’s taking them decades to repay.
Senator Andrew Bragg says growing university debts are keeping young Australians out of the housing market. But his proposed solution ignores the root of the problem.