Australian Home Minister Dutton (photo by Sydney Morning Herald)
A Treasury briefing obtained by Feldass Media revealed that a 30, 000 cut in immigration acceptance would cost the federal government a $500 million in annual financial losses.
Australia approved one hundred and sixty one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine permanent residence visas in the year to June 30, down from one hundred and ninety thousand a year earlier, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Dutton (Peter Dutton), Australia`s interior minister, sees this as evidence that policy is playing its part. The (Malcolm Turnbull) government made immigration a key issue in Saturday`s by-election as a test before the next federal election.
Between April 2017 and April 2018, the Treasury submitted twice to the Cabinet a report on the financial impact of immigration cuts. The relevant documents shall not be published to the public in accordance with the provisions of the law. However, Fafus Media obtained a briefing on how the Australian Treasury calculates the individual financial contribution of immigrants.
The briefing revealed that the Treasury considers the financial contributions of immigrants at a personal level, including personal income, research reports from the Home Office and anonymous tax returns from the Australian Inland Revenue Service.
Last fiscal year, the number of permanent visas was cut to one hundred and sixty one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine, the equivalent of returning to pre-2011 levels. It is reported that the calculation model used in the 2011 / 12 Budget is still valid, showing that if the number of immigrants is increased from one hundred and sixty eight thousand seven hundred to one hundred and eighty five thousand, an additional tax of 569 million Australian dollars will be generated in fiscal year 2014 / 15. This compares with A $214 million in fiscal year 2012 / 13 and A $ three hundred and eighty one million nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine in fiscal year 2013 / 14.
The Treasury`s assessment process distinguishes skilled migrants, family and humanitarian migrants, as well as permanent and temporary residence visas, the briefing said.
The Treasury does not specify the costs or benefits of each category of migrants, but points out that skilled migrants contribute the most to tax revenues each year, while family and humanitarian migrants incur short-term financial expenses due to social benefits. In the past year, immigration cuts have been largely due to skilled immigration categories.
Carly (Mark Cully), an economic expert at the Australian Department of Industry, who worked for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, criticized the Treasury`s calculation for being too simple and based solely on the revenue budget of immigrants over a four-year period, not on lifelong financial contributions.
Some immigrant groups may have a fiscal deficit for government in the early days of their arrival, but will be repaid in subsequent years as the situation improves, Cali said. This clearly applies to children as well as to humanitarian actors. A 40-year-old skilled immigrant may make a higher tax contribution than a 15-year-old refugee during his four-year-old arrival in Australia, but in a lifetime perspective, the situation may turn.
