Labor demands Facebook remove posts on false death tax plan

Labor Leader Bill Shorten has called a social media campaign that his party would introduce a death tax a lie.

Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten at Luna Park in Melbourne.

Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten at Luna Park in Melbourne. Source: AAP

Labor Leader Bill Shorten has attacked a campaign that has been carried on social media suggesting his party will pursue a death tax in government.

The Labor Party has written to Facebook demanding it take action on a wide-spread campaign spreading lies about a "death tax".

"It is a lie. It is a lie. It is a lie," he told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday.

"I think the Liberal Party need to be ashamed of themselves using low rent, American-style fake news which is actually a lie and then trying to scare different communities throughout Australia."

The party believes accounts on the social media platform have been sharing a link to a real press release issued by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in January, alongside claims Labor and the Greens would create a 40 per cent inheritance tax, the Herald Sun newspaper reported.

The Coalition told the newspaper it had no knowledge of the campaign.


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