this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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Weird to use cash incentive for this.
what is so weird about it? it's a stroke of genius actually.
from policy making perspective - it is not any different from grants and subsidies in an area of interest.
especially when considering the alternative is to introduce civil penalties and/or criminalise those that do not comply which actually takes a while to be passed and may face potential political and social backlash, costs money to implement and enforce and wasting the courts' time.
so between that and a departmental initiative under Budget 2024 (which is less onerous to implement compared to passing a legislation) which one would you rather have if you were the Government lol.
Tax cut is usually the preferred method, cash incentive mean the thing is funded by the government's pocket.
that is not quite right.
tax expenditure is not free money. Both will be funded by the taxpayers. Compared to program spending such as this, the former would forgo government revenue they could otherwise collect. it's highly complex, burdens the existing tax code and too easy to apply to the wrong target.
Cf program spending, whilst more onerous in political terms is better for taxpayers in the long term, which will have more scrutiny and have more accountability because it has to be appropriated by the Parliament.