No excuse for budget delay: SA Govt

The SA government has criticised the opposition for not allowing the budget bill to pass the upper house.

SA Treasurer Koutsantonis

Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis says the opposition has no excuse for delaying SA's budget any longer. (AAP)

South Australia's controversial bank tax should be accepted or rejected by parliament's upper house this week with both sides of politics committing to dealing with the budget measure over the next two days.

The levy is included in the government's wider budget measures bill which also includes tax cuts for small businesses, grants for buying apartments and a levy on foreigners buying residential property.

As debate continued on Wednesday, the government's leader in the upper house Kyam Mayer said Labor was determined to take the bill to a vote before the parliament rose for the week on Thursday.

He said the bill had been before the chamber for more than 30 days and the government would ask the house to sit for as long as necessary to bring the issue to a conclusion.

Opposition treasury spokesman Rob Lucas said the Liberals believed that was a reasonable proposition, despite the party's continual objection to the bank levy.

The opposition is expected to pass the wider budget measures bill but only if bank tax is removed, possibly through an amendment.

Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said the government "cannot and will not" separate out any part of the budget bill and said the upper house would be going against convention to vote it down.

Mr Lucas said the treasurer was wrong on the question of convention with governments amending budget bills in the past.

SA's proposed bank tax applies to the big banks in a bid to raise about $360 million over the next four years.

The banks have argued the levy is unfair, will deter investment and hit confidence.


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Source: AAP


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No excuse for budget delay: SA Govt | SBS News