Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor says Bill Shorten plans to rip money from the pockets of local pensioners, retirees and low-income earners to pay for his budget black hole.

“In an outrageous grab for cash, Labor have announced they will abolish tax refunds for share dividends if elected,” Mr Taylor said.

This means that if you receive the pension, are on a low-income or have a small self-managed superannuation account, you will no longer get a refund from the Tax Office for tax already paid on your shares.

An estimated 1500 pensioners and more than 7100 taxpayers will lose tax refunds of their franking credits in Hume under Labor’s policy.

More than half of all individuals receiving refunded franking credits have taxable income less than the $18,200 tax free threshold. Labor’s policy would extinguish a vital income steam for these low income earners.

“Bill Shorten and the Labor Party have a dealt a cruel blow to them with this plan. Labor is slugging older Australians to pay for its unsustainable spending spree.”

Mr Taylor said share ownership was for everyone and tax refunds from share dividends help relieve cost of living pressures for many retirees and people on low incomes.

“That is why the Turnbull Government is committed to keeping tax refunds for franking credits,” he said.

“The Turnbull Government stands for fairness, opportunity and security. Our plan is to keep taxes as low as they can be, while guaranteeing the essentials to reduce cost of living pressures for Australians.”

Late last year, Bill Shorten said, “I think Australians pay enough tax at the moment. I don't believe that another tax is going to be what Australians need or want at this stage”.

“Incredibly, this announcement means he has now proposed more than $200 billion worth of new taxes - that’s a tax hike roughly equivalent to the entire GDP of New Zealand,” Mr Taylor said.