EXCLUSIVE by Steve Lewis
The Daily Telegraph
May 28, 2009 12:00am
THE Rudd Government has wasted $40 million by paying the $900 tax bonus to 16,000 dead people and 27,000 expats living overseas.
The revelations will rock the Government's efforts to sell its $42 billion stimulus package as a nation-building scheme.
And the Australian Tax Office said the level of payments to the dead is likely to go beyond the $14 million so far issued to deceased estates.
The $40 million in wasted payments was revealed by the tax office in confidential documents that confirmed prisoners received the $900 payment.
As well, more than $11 million was spent on "marketing" the cash splash - which has seen about $8 billion paid to 8.7 million people.
Despite racking up more than $300 billion in debt, the Government is sending about $25 million in bonus payments to people living overseas.
Even non-Australians who worked here for at least six months - but then disappeared off shore - have received the cash.
The British and New Zealand economies will benefit the most - with expats living in these countries accounting for 40 per cent of the payments.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull will seize on the embarrassing revelations to bolster his claim the Government's $42 billion stimulus package was badly targeted.
Mr Turnbull - estimated to have a personal fortune of $178 million yesterday - called on the Government to "come clean" on how it planned to repay $315 billion in debt.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan trumpeted the $900 cash bonus - paid during April and May - as a much-needed shot in the arm for the economy.
The tax office has revealed that 15,934 tax bonus payments have been made to deceased estates so far.
The numbers of dead people receiving the bonus could rise sharply, with 47,111 deceased estates lodging a tax return for the eligible period.
The tax office also admits it had no idea where the payment to dead people actually ends up.
"It is the role of the executor in administering the proceeds of a deceased estate to determine how the tax bonus payment will be distributed to beneficiaries," the ATO said.
The tax office was also unable to outline how many prisoners had received the cash bonus, but confirmed "some" inmates would receive the payment.
It had much better luck in determining how many expats would receive the bonus.
This will include 7305 people who will receive a cheque mailed to an overseas address, while 18,000 will receive the payment via their bank account.
The Australian Labor Party, has since its inception, recruited Dead people to vote for it at all three levels of government,now we know how they do it.
