Labor has warned a “deficit levy” would define Tony Abbott as
a Prime Minister if he pursued the new tax and  says the government was
paying the price for the “deceitful, voodoo economics” of its election
campaign.




Mr Abbott has not ruled out a short-term tax on high incomes
to  reduce Australia’s deficit, as the opposition accused the the
Coalition of preparing to break an election promise of no new taxes.



The Australian Financial Review is also reporting that business and industry leaders are urging the government not to raise taxes to reduce debt.




Mr Abbott on Sunday refused to comment about speculation the
government was preparing to introduce the levy on high incomes but said
the government would not “squib on the challenge” of addressing “debt
and deficit stretching out as far as the eye can see”.



“We are going to do it in ways which are faithful to the
commitments that we made to the Australian people, but we are not going
to squib the challenge,” he said.



“We are attracted to good economic policy and the reason why
you’ve got to fix the budget is because you can’t have in the long run a
strong economy without also having a strong budgetary position.”



But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten attacked the Abbott
government, accusing them of reneging on promises made before the
election.



"They've doubled the deficit, now because they've doubled the
deficit they want all Australians to pay a deceit tax," he told
reporters in Brisbane.



''Here's a couple of ideas for Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott -
don't break your promise . . . don't say nine times in a 32-election
period when you're chasing people's vote that they won't touch pensions
and then as soon as you get elected have twisted priorities and broken
promises and introduce a new deceit tax.''



Mr Shorten also criticised the Abbott government over
speculation of changes to the aged pension, saying the pension was not a
''king's ransom or like winning lotto''.



''The fact they're letting these rumours, this fear, run
tells me that the Abbott government is using the Australian people to
scare them, to prepare the ground for unpleasant, unnecessary
decisions,'' Mr Shorten said.



Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said earlier on
Monday that the government was preparing to breach its election
promises.



“This is the deceitful, voodoo economics of Tony Abbott and
Joe Hockey from before the election catching up with them,” Mr Bowen
told ABC radio.



“They said they could introduce a budget surplus while
cutting taxes and having no spending cuts over and above those
announced.



“It was always fallacious and it’s been shown to be so now.”



Labor’s family and payments spokeswoman Jenny Macklin warned on Monday that imposing a levy would define Mr Abbott’s leadership.



“He was quite adamant about it, just like he said there would
be no changes to pensions, he said there’d be no new taxes,” she told
Radio National.



“So, you’d have to wonder how many promises Tony Abbott could break.



“This will define Tony Abbott if he goes ahead and introduces a new tax.”