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Greens praise public sector wage cap lift but call for higher taxes on ‘vested interests’

The Greens have responded to Labor’s first New South Wales budget in more than a decade by calling for higher taxes on the gambling, coal, property and banking industries.

The NSW Greens finance and treasury spokesperson, Abigail Boyd, praised the Minns government for lifting the public sector wages cap but said it wasn’t “fair” for Labor to frame what was otherwise a “lack-lustre austerity budget” as the “price that had to be paid for that wages correction”.

In a statement, Boyd said the government could raise an additional $2bn every year through a “handful of modest revenue measures”.

Labor have found themselves trapped in a prison of their own making, managing the budget within the bounds of a relatively stable revenue base.

What the people of NSW need right now is a government prepared to finally stand up to vested interests and end the special treatment that has allowed these industries to avoid paying their fair share for far too long.

Boyd is calling for a bigger increase to coal royalties, a levy on windfall profits made by the big banks from higher home loan repayments, changes to payroll taxes for the big four accounting firms, a pokies “supertax” and higher taxes for developer-landowners.

The New South Wales Labor government will invest $2.2bn in housing and infrastructure projects, including new roads and schools, as it hands down its first budget in more than a decade.

The government has forecast a $7.8bn deficit this financial year, before posting a string of modest surpluses, bankrolled by its big twin revenue streams of property and payroll taxes.

The state’s booming property market will see stamp duty revenue increase as property owners who had delayed decisions to buy during the pandemic and inflationary period return to the market.

Budget figures revealed NSW was expected to be back into the black next financial year and would focus on paying down debt after finding $13bn to redirect into essential services through an expenditure review.

The treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, said his government was trying to rebuild a buffer for future financial shocks, like natural disasters.

“We’re putting aside that money for a rainy day,” he said.

Within its headline housing spend, the government pledged to build almost 5,000 homes through Landcom by 2040.

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Catie McLeod