Over the last month we have been bombarded with television commercials for EOFY sales ie. “buy now and you purchases could be tax deductible for 19/20”.
And soon, as tax returns are due 31st October, the ads for a myriad of tax agents will grace our screens.
This year is going to be a tough one.
The fallout from COVID-19 will affect most of us some way or the other.
For us non tax paying retirees, who own their home, things might not be so dire. Our retirement funds will continue to suffer from patchy business performance however. But at least some of us have the government pension or part pension with all its perks to prop us up should the going get really tough. Belt tightening is already the order of the day.
But that is really nothing compared to the working population with mortgages, rents and other financial commitments to pay.
Rising rates of housing stress, particularly among younger Australians and job losses among workers aged 51 to 65 show the Covid-19 recession is causing insecurity at both ends of the life cycle, according to two new reports from The Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Australian National University (ANU).
Nearly a third of people who have lost work or had hours cut as a result of the pandemic are aged 51 to 65 – fuelling “rapid growth” in the number of mature-age, low-income Australians, particularly women, who may fall through the cracks of government support.
Industries affected by the Covid-19 shutdowns are often significant employers of mature-age people, along with other precarious and low-wage groups. Based on industry breakdowns, the largest number of job losses or hour reductions among people aged 51 to 65 are accommodation and food services, education and training, and retail trade.
Not yet eligible for the pension or aged care, many of these people are caught between employment and retirement: too old to work and too young to retire.
The proportion of Australians not able to meet their regular housing costs jumped from 6.9% in April to 15.1% in May, with young people the hardest hit.
The ANU study, based on a longitudinal survey of 3,200 Australians, also found particularly high levels of rental stress among people aged 18 to 24, with 445 unable to pay their rent on time.
The study also found an almost threefold increase in housing stress for Australians aged 35 to 44 over the same period, with the proportion rising from 5.9% to 19.1%.
The government will have its work cut out trying to come to grips with this potentially desperate situation despite already opening the welfare treasure chest which, according to them, is not bottomless.
(Source: Guardian Australia)
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