TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Australia strikes deal with Greens on taxing foreign workers
Change Size
Protesters link arms in a public area at the center of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016, demanding that Australia resettle refugees who attempt to reach its shores by boat. Another 30 shouting demonstrators in a public gallery drowned out the House of Representatives where lawmakers had gathered. (AP/Rod McGuirk)
A
ustralia's conservative government struck a deal with a minor party on Thursday on a tax rate aimed at encouraging foreign travelers to pick fruit on the nation's farms.
The government and the left-wing Greens party reached a compromise on how much vacationers should be taxed on income earned picking farm produce next year, Greens leader Richard Di Natale said.
The government would not go below a 15 percent rate for the so-called backpacker tax while the Greens had asked for 13 percent. The compromise involved the government agreeing to take less tax from the travelers' compulsory pension contributions, Di Natale said. The government also offered an additional 100 million Australian dollars (US$74 million) spending on the environment.
"We have a situation where farmers just simply didn't know whether they were going to be able to collect their fruit or whether it was going to be withering on the vine," Di Natale told reporters.
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce confirmed a deal had been reached with the Greens but provided no details. The breakthrough came on the last day Parliament was to sit for the year.
Australian farmers rely heavily on thousands of young backpackers traversing the Outback to pick their produce each year.
But farmers feared many of these seasonal laborers would bypass Australia for countries such as New Zealand when a tax rate of 32.5 percent on every dollar earned was to come into force on Jan. 1.
"Farmers can now plan next year's harvest with confidence that they will have a backpacker workforce there to help them harvest their fruit and harvest their crops," said Fiona Simson, president of the National Farmers' Federation, Australia's leading farming group.
Many backpackers currently pay no tax on their earnings because, like Australian residents, they are allowed to earn up to 18,200 Australian dollars ($13,500) before any tax is owed.
But a court ruled last year that that the Australian Tax Office should not treat foreign travelers the same as Australian residents. They won't have a tax-free threshold from January.
Many fear that months of uncertainty had already deterred many travelers who otherwise might have come to Australia to pick the current summer crops.
