Most of the initial reactions to Tony Abbott’s maternity leave proposal have focussed on its political motivation, on how it squares with his personal ideology, and on reactions of the business lobby.
As far as the politics are concerned, it looks like standard Howard era populism, seizing on the winds of prevailing opinion.
As for the financing, the interesting aspect is not that business will pay for it. In fact, it would take it a bit of detailed modelling to work out how the incidence would ultimately fall. Businesses forces to pay the levy would recover part of it from salaries and part from consumers via higher prices, with shareholders paying the balance. The cost will fall failrly broadly on the community as a whole, just as it would if it were taxpayer funded. Read more »
