20-year-old, Kiera Rorris completed a year of fitness and sport science at Australian Catholic University before transferring to TAFE for vet nursing, leaving her with a $13,000 HECS debt.
Rorris, alongside fellow students and graduates will soon owe the government a staggering $84 billion in HECS-HELP debt payments in June, when the value of student loans rises in tandem with inflation.
Average HECS-HELP debts are expected to rise by $1000, leaving millions of Australians paying the government more, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s commitment to provide cost-of-living assistance through tax cuts.
Key senate crossbencher, Jacqui Lambie declared on Wednesday that hiking student loans every year in line with inflation was a “whole new low”.
“I don’t think HECS should be indexed, we should be making it easier for young people to get ahead, not harder,” Lambie said.
In addition, Rorris labelled the HECS indexation “ridiculous”.
“It’s hypocritical to bring in a tax cut to then make us pay it in a different way. They are pretty much just moving the money from one place to another,” Rorris said.
According to The Daily Telegraph, people earning $50,000 or less per year who do not repay HECS would receive an additional $929 in tax reduction under Mr Albanese’s modified Stage 3 tax cuts, while those earning $90,000 will benefit by $1,929 per year.
The increase in HECS debts might wind up being bigger than the value of the annual tax savings that Australians are slated to get from July.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
