Tax households to save health system: nurses
The nurses’ union is suggesting the State Government impose a levy of $100 per household as one option to help fill the $332 million funding shortfall it blames on federal health cuts.
The government held its first meetings with health stakeholders yesterday to begin discussions about a response to the new fiscal situation.
The SA branch of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation is urging the government to consider revenue-raising measures rather than cuts to health services.
Federation chief executive Elizabeth Dabars told InDaily the community would have to decide between paying higher taxes and sacrificing the quality of its healthcare system.
“Does the community want a first-class system or do they want to accept a second-class or perhaps even worse system?” was Dabars’ rhetorical question.
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“You can’t strip that amount of money from the system and not have an impact.
“These cuts can and will lead to service reductions, cuts to beds, cuts to services, cuts to the availability of care and of course there is the potential … to also decrease the quality of care if you are able to access it.”
Dabars said a ‘state health levy’ was an option the nurses’ union would advocate to prop up the health system.
“There are approximately 650,000 households in South Australia. If you were to gain $100 per household you could raise around $65 million,” she said.
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“Taxes are not necessarily all that popular, including raising taxes. However, equally, I can’t imagine that people would find it popular to be not able to access the health services that they believe that they should be able to receive.”
Dabars also flagged federal tax increases to fill the gap.
These include a return to the original mining tax (the Minerals Resource Rent Tax proposed by the Henry tax review), an increase to the Medicare levy and the imposition of a tax on bequests.
Dabars said a 0.4 per cent levy placed on bequests around the country could raise $100 million per year.
“If you increase that [levy on bequests] to 1 per cent, that would raise the potential income to $250 million per annum,” she said.
But the union’s suggestions look likely to fall on deaf ears.
Health Minister Jack Snelling said “half of the federal government budget cuts have already been met with revenue-raising measures with the changes to the emergency services levy”.
While the State Government is not unequivocally ruling out tax increases to fill the $332 million black hole, a spokesman said the shortfall was expected to be made up by cuts within the state’s Health portfolio.
Bills to repeal the mining and carbon taxes were reintroduced to parliament by the Federal Government on Monday.
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