Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Duncan Storrar's appearance on Monday night's Q&A threw the post-budget back-and-forth into sharp relief. On national television, the 45-year-old father-of-two put a human face on a debate that had been little more than nebulous sound bites about "growth" and "fairness".
"People just have no idea what it's like for people like me," he told Fairfax Media after the program.
Mr Storrar is a part-time truck driver with two daughters and a mental health issue. He earlier told Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer he had spent his whole working life on the minimum wage, distilling a common critique of the budget to personal experience.
"You're gonna lift the tax-free threshold for rich people," he said. "Why don't I get it? Why do they get it?"
He was referring to the government's move to lift the upper end of the 32.5 cent tax bracket from $80,000 to $87,000 - saving $315 a year for people earning more than $80,000.
It set in chain a series of awkward answers from Ms O'Dwyer, who could only wheel out the Turnbull government's talking points on small business and trickle-down economics, and business lobbyist Innes Willox, who told Mr Storrar he "would not pay much tax" anyway, and that "not everyone can win out of every budget".
Taken aback by the overwhelming public response on Tuesday, Mr Storrar told Fairfax Media he was "very upset" by the panel's discussion.
"They don't seem to understand [that] when you're on a low income, you pay tax when you go to the supermarket, you pay tax when you do anything," he said. "They have no idea. Do they really live in a fantasy world?"
Mr Storrar's world, on the other hand, is fairly basic. He lives at a housing commission property in Geelong, and takes truck-driving jobs when they are available, often as a subcontractor. He is not a net income tax payer - he "very rarely" breaks the necessary threshold and always receives all of money back from the tax office. He is also studying youth work and receives the Austudy allowance.
That said, there is little in the budget for someone like Mr Storrar. Even the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset for those earning under $37,000 is unlikely to assist - he calls superannuation "theft" and estimates he has less than $1000 in his account, routinely watching his diminutive balance chewed up by fees when he's out of work.
The government's tax breaks for higher income earners left Mr Storrar feeling cold.
"They don't even notice it," he said. "That's what gets me. What rich people call a milkshake and a sandwich – people at my end of the scale call that a meal for my family."
Labor has sought to frame Treasurer Scott Morrison's first budget as a booster to the big end of town and does nothing for low-income battlers. Conversely, the government argues tax breaks for small business will stimulate economic growth, jobs and investment. However, none of those things would bring immediate respite for Mr Storrar and his family.
"The only thing that will help my children out of the poverty circle is education," he said.
"My girls are really good – they know and understand dad doesn't have the money. But it still hurts every time I say it to them.
"Especially when the reason for that is [that] I didn't get a good education and made the wrong choices at 13. When you know it's your own fault that you're not making a lot of money, it hurts."
Mr Storrar identified as a disenchanted Labor voter, but he conceded neither side of politics would do much to materially improve his situation.
"They say whatever they want in order to get elected, and when they get elected they do whatever the people who pay their bills tell them to do," he said.
