Crowdfunding Campaign Raises $20k For "Q&A" Fave Duncan (To Spend On A New Toaster)

Today has become the unlikeliest, rarest of things: a day in which the internet warms your heart.

Aussies have rallied around instant Q&A fave Duncan Storrar following his debate with Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer over the Government’s proposed tax breaks for those earning more than $80,000 a year.

On Monday’s episode, Storrar put a face to the issue by relaying his personal experiences to the panel.

How come rich people get a lift in their tax-free threshold? @cassandragoldie responds #QandA https://t.co/ypCU0S3iyE

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) May 9, 2016

“I’ve got a disability and a low education; that means I’ve spent my whole life working off minimum wage,” he said.

“You’re gonna lift the tax-free threshold for rich people. If you lift my tax-free threshold, that changes my life. That means that I get to say to my little girls, ‘Daddy’s not broke this weekend. We can go to the pictures’. Rich people don’t even notice their tax-free threshold lift. Why don’t I get it? Why do they get it?”

He added, “to rich people, it’s a Coke and a milkshake or whatever. To me, it changes my children’s lives. It means my children have $7,000 more money every year to live on.”

O’Dwyer’s response noted the positive effect of tax breaks on small business owners, who need that money to buy, say, a $6,000 toaster.

.@KellyODwyer says it's all about balance & we're making the right choices to grow the pie. #QandA https://t.co/I8fX9OHlAw

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) May 9, 2016

Clinging to that line as only the internet can, a crowdfunding campaign to buy Storrar a $6,000 toaster was immediately mounted by well-wishers.

As of this writing, more than $21,000 has been raised for Duncan and his family.

#IStandWithDuncan has been a trending topic for much of this week, and as admirable as that stance is, Storrar probably prefers the actual physical donations.

Storrar is, however, facing some backlash in the media today (on account of him not paying any net tax), though he already offered a healthy rebuttal to that fact on Monday night’s Q&A.

Chief Executive of Australian Industry Group, Innes Willox, posed the following to Storrar: “Duncan, I’ll be harsh in my message. If you’re on the minimum wage with a family, you would not pay much tax, if any at all, would you?”

His response? “I pay tax every time I go to the supermarket. Every time I hop in my car.”

Update: As of May 12, the money raised by the GoFundMe campaign now sits at $56,000.

Photo: ABC.