FIRST ON 7: Government will chase unpaid student debts of Aussies living overseas
The Federal Government will announce in its Budget that it will chase down student debts of Australians, who have left to work overseas.
A 7News investigation has found there's $8 billion worth of HECS debt, which is set to be written off.
One student said: “I wouldn't' be able to do it without a HECS .”
Another said: “When I finish uni, I'll definitely pay it back."
But the sad truth is that many don’t.
7News discovered that $35.3 billion is owed in unpaid HECS and HELP debts, $8.2billion of which is expected to be written off.
The Education Department has an acronym for it D. N. E. R. Debts Not Expected to be Repaid.
Hundreds of millions of those dollars are owed to taxpayers by graduates who've left the country for big paying jobs overseas.
We took that to the Education Minister Christopher Pyne told 7News: “I can inform you tonight that, in fact, the government will be moving in the Budget to remove the exemption on Australians living overseas from paying their HECs debt.”
The debts are normally repaid through the tax system but graduates paying tax abroad have been able to avoid the
Mr Pyne added: “The idea that an Australian living overseas believes they're not required to pay their HECs debt is quite frankly outrageous.”
The repayments click in once graduates earn above the income threshold of $53,000.
With the help of tax offices in Britain, Asia, the US and elsewhere that will now apply to Australians overseas, too.
Mr Pyne said: "Whether you are a banker in New York or a real estate agent in London.
"If you have a HECS debt, you'll be obliged to repay it."
Mr Pyne says he aims to recover more than $140 million for the Budget and hopes that is a conservative estimate.
Some good news for Treasurer Joe Hockey in his quest for cash.
