Australian Hospital Workers to Suffer From Tax Exemptions Cuts

Head of the Australian Medical Association Stephen Parnis said that Australian authorities' decision to limit tax exemptions for workers of non-profit organizations, including hospitals, will undermine the value of employment packages in the sector.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Australian authorities' decision to limit tax exemptions for workers of non-profit organizations, including hospitals, will undermine the value of employment packages in the sector, head of the Australian Medical Association Stephen Parnis said in a statement Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Australia's Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg explained that country's new budget will put a limit of 5,000 Australian dollars (almost $4,000) to the fringe benefits tax for public institutions' workers stipulated by the employment packages. Currently, the non-profit sector employees have access to unrestricted meals and entertainment under the tax relief.

"This affects all people who work in the not-for-profit sector," Parnis said, as quoted by the Australian Financial Review newspaper. He added that "this has been regarded as a legitimate entitlement for many years now."

Parnis stressed that the government should have discussed this pay cut with doctors.

The workers of non-profit sector make up 8.6 percent of workforce in Australia, according to the newspaper. The tax concessions for the sector cost Australian budget about 465 million Australian dollars ($370 million) annually.