Greens leader Richard Di Natale wants successful Australian’s to hand over $10.5 billion of their hard-earned money in an effort to increase the dole to $75 per week.
Those earning more than $300,000 will be forced to fund Di Natale’s multi-billion-dollar pay out.
“Restricting the tax deductions for 45,000 people could pay for a new quality of life for 838,000 Australians,” Di Natale said.
Quality of life? How does increasing the quality of life for people on the dole encourage them to get out there and work for something better?
Ronald Reagan once rightly said, “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.”
Similarly, the president of the American Enterprise Institute, Arthur Brooks said, “Our goal should never be to make poverty less miserable. Our goal must be to make poverty more escapable.”
Brooks went on to explain, getting things without having to work for them is a very hard habit to break. In fact, it can very quickly become a way of life and that’s damaging for everyone.
As we’ve noted before, it’s not always loving to feed the hungry. Now, you might be thinking that doesn’t sound very “Christian.” Aren’t we commanded to take care of those who can’t work? Correct. We’re commanded to take care of the poor, but not necessarily those who are poor by choice.
The Apostle Paul once said, “if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” There are some unemployed people who don’t necessarily deserve our charity. Why? Because when you feed a man unwilling to work, you kill his God given motivation to work: hunger!
Proverbs 16:26 says, “A worker’s appetite works for him; his mouth urges him on.” By failing to understand this basic principle, many welfare systems end up creating the problems they’re trying to solve.
Rather than increasing government handouts, governments and private charities should require people to work in exchange for social assistance.
“Earning your way out of poverty is much more empowering and enduring than being supported by government programs which maintain people in their poverty,” Brooks explained.
“When we do this, we help people in two ways: First, through welfare we are helping them meet their immediate material needs. Second, through work, we are helping them earn their own success – the key to a fulfilling and dignified life.”
Di Natale’s proposal diminishes a person’s motivation and drive to earn and forces them to become dependent on the state and a slave to government hand outs.
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