MBA students will be one of the biggest winners from the Coalition Government’s decision today to reverse Labor’s cap on tax deductibility of self-education expenses.
Minister for Education Christopher Pyne welcomed the announcement to ‘scrap the cap’ made today by the Treasurer Joe Hockey.
“With the vast bulk of claims for self-education expenses coming from those earning less than $80,000, this was a cap on those on the frontline of the health and education sector,” Mr Pyne said. “Removing the cap is great news for thousands of nurses, teachers and others who would have struggled to afford critical education courses and vital self-accreditation,” he said.
The previous Labor Government announced a cap of $2,000 on tax‑deductibility for self‑education expenses as a part of their $2.8 billion worth of cuts to higher education. MBA programs would have been severely impacted by the cap on tax-deductible self-education, which Labor proposed to help get its budget back to surplus by 2016.
READ: GOVERNMENT URGED TO SCRAP THE CAP
“We should be rewarding people prepared to invest in their own skills not penalising them,” Mr Pyne said. “Removing this restriction to self-education will help to encourage investment in education and skills.”
“Australians should have access to the often necessary training they require to maintain their professional accreditation and skills, as well as upgrading their qualifications. The flow on effect would not have stopped at the individual but also greatly reduced the uptake of professional development courses at our universities and TAFE colleges,” he said.
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