Anyone for Overtime?

Muldoon claims the new scales encourage workers to do, overtime. He seems to think that the reason overtime is not worked at present is that employees shy at heavy tax. The real reason is that with the recession overtime is just not available. The tax reductions will benefit those who are on high wages and salaries, rather than those who are trying to supplement their inadequate wage by working overtime. If Muldoon had really wanted to remedy the anomaly of increased tax on overtime he could have done so by increasing the overtime rebate from the nominal 10c per hour to something more realistic.

Muldoon's reasoning is bankrupt. In these times of worker poverty, high inflation and increasing unemployment those who are taking part-time jobs are not, in general, doing so to get extra money for a colour TV, a trip to Tahiti or a new car, but rather just to get enough money to provide them with the basic necessities of life.

As wages continue to lag well behind prices, those on marginal wages find it progressively more difficult to make ends meet.

For a man on $100 pw the tax cut of $3.31 will be offset by the $1.50 increase in tax that his wife (working for about $30 pw) will pay. Who's kidding whom?

With the present job situation many of those taking part-time jobs are not doing so from choice but rather because the fulltime jobs are not available. Under the new system these people will not only suffer because they are not able to get the better paying full-time jobs, now they will be paying an increased tax on their poorly paying part-time jobs.