THE federal budget’s failure to fund adult remedial math will severely hurt the future prospects of Labor MP Joanne Ryan.
Ms Ryan, who was a school principal before entering Parliament, could do with some maths tutoring after last night tweeting her outrage at the Government’s budget:
Someone earning $45,000 will pay the same amount of tax as someone on $120,000
— Joanne Ryan MP (@JoanneRyanLalor) October 6, 2020
It was difficult to know whether the Opposition Whip’s tweet was embarrassingly mistaken or willfully deceitful.
A federal politician should know the difference between the rate of tax and the amount of tax.
X per cent of $45,000 is very different to X per cent of $120,000!
According to the Government’s budget website, though on a similar tax rate, a person earning $45,000 a year will pay $4,812 in tax while a person earning $120,000 will pay $31,687.
Shadow Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers might like to explain to his Labor colleagues that the percentage of tax paid and the “amount” of tax paid are not the same things.
Ms Ryan’s failure to understand basic math and tax law was surpassed only by the number of people who appeared to believe her tweet.
As of this morning her tweet had been retweeted more than 800 times and liked more than 2000 times.
“That’s me on a measly $45,000,” wrote one twitter user in reply to Ms Ryan.
“The wage of a woman in a caring profession. That’s totally f*ed.”
Others outraged at the Liberals – but who should actually have been outraged at Ms Ryan’s terrible maths – wrote: “Ain`t that the Liberal way!” and “My stomach just turned over. Anxiety is rising”.
Well your stomach would turn if Ms Ryan was accurate. It would mean a person earning $45,000 would be slugged $31,687 in tax, putting them on a tax rate of around 70 per cent!
But of course, Ms Ryan’s tweet was as about accurate as former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan’s surplus predictions, which is to say that it was completely inaccurate.
If Labor ever want to be trusted with the economy then Labor parliamentarians might want to first learn how tax rates work, or at least learn basic maths.
To that end, my 15-year-old son is available to tutor Ms Ryan. He will charge $30 for a half hour lesson and, if she pays with a $50 note, he will of course return to her $5 in change.
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James Macpherson is a sought after international speaker with a background in journalism at the Courier Mail and Daily Telegraph. He previously pastored a significant church in Australia and South Africa. James' weekly Good Sauce podcast comes out every Tuesday. He also writes regularly for The Spectator.
