AGL 38.80 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (1.7%)
AIRLINK 129.85 Increased By ▲ 4.78 (3.82%)
BOP 7.17 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (4.67%)
CNERGY 4.61 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.6%)
DCL 8.25 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (4.3%)
DFML 38.69 Increased By ▲ 1.35 (3.62%)
DGKC 80.50 Increased By ▲ 2.73 (3.51%)
FCCL 32.11 Increased By ▲ 1.53 (5%)
FFBL 73.11 Increased By ▲ 4.25 (6.17%)
FFL 12.23 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (3.12%)
HUBC 108.50 Increased By ▲ 4.00 (3.83%)
HUMNL 14.02 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (3.93%)
KEL 4.85 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (4.3%)
KOSM 7.55 Increased By ▲ 0.38 (5.3%)
MLCF 37.50 Increased By ▲ 1.06 (2.91%)
NBP 70.00 Increased By ▲ 4.08 (6.19%)
OGDC 188.02 Increased By ▲ 8.49 (4.73%)
PAEL 25.19 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (3.11%)
PIBTL 7.36 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.94%)
PPL 151.50 Increased By ▲ 7.80 (5.43%)
PRL 25.20 Increased By ▲ 0.88 (3.62%)
PTC 17.27 Increased By ▲ 0.87 (5.3%)
SEARL 81.00 Increased By ▲ 2.43 (3.09%)
TELE 7.55 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (4.57%)
TOMCL 33.00 Increased By ▲ 1.03 (3.22%)
TPLP 8.41 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.44%)
TREET 16.60 Increased By ▲ 0.47 (2.91%)
TRG 56.30 Increased By ▲ 1.64 (3%)
UNITY 27.98 Increased By ▲ 0.48 (1.75%)
WTL 1.35 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (4.65%)
BR100 10,439 Increased By 350.1 (3.47%)
BR30 30,852 Increased By 1343.5 (4.55%)
KSE100 97,991 Increased By 3417.1 (3.61%)
KSE30 30,554 Increased By 1109 (3.77%)

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Friday raised the prospect of a one-off tax to pay for rebuilding after epic floods, as rising waters prompted more evacuations in the south-east. Crops, roads and railway lines were washed away and thousands of homes destroyed by vast floods that swamped Queensland state this month in what the government has said could be the nation's most costly natural disaster.
The rolling disaster is now hitting the south-eastern state of Victoria, where thousands have been urged to evacuate their homes in scores of towns as swollen rivers cut off entire communities. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Australians had pulled together to begin the massive recovery in worst-hit Queensland, as she said was considering a one-hit tax to help pay for the reconstruction.
"There will be difficult decisions, there will be spending cutbacks, and there may also be a levy to support the rebuilding that we need to do," Gillard told reporters in Adelaide. "When I make those decisions I fully expect there will be some criticism and there will be some complaint. But I am determined that we make the decisions that are right for the nation and right to rebuild the nation after the devastation that we have been through." She did not give any details of the levy.
The previous conservative government of John Howard imposed a series of one-off levies, including a 0.2 percent hike to a tax paid by high income earners without private hospital cover to pay for a gun buy-back. A Aus$10 ($10) levy was placed on plane tickets in 2001 to help recoup worker entitlements after Ansett airline collapsed.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011

Comments

Comments are closed.