Of course the costs will be passed on, just as were the costs of the carbon tax: THE nation's four major banks are increasingly hostile to the Coalition's $4.3 billion paid parental leave scheme, warning that shareholders and customers will ultimately pay for the $400 million-plus cost to the industry. A senior banker said the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank were each facing an annual charge of $80m-$115m, based on Tony Abbott's plan to fund the scheme with a 1.5 per cent levy on companies with taxable incomes above $5m. I am informed by a senior Liberal that Abbott's scheme would hand over up to $75,000 in parental leave entitlements to working women without even obliging them to return to work after six months. All they need do is to lie about their plans, leaving the employer trying to cover for them until the employee tells them, oops, she'd rather have more time with the baby, after all. It is not difficult to see where this will lead. Women planing to have a child will have a strong incentive to take a job (or new promotion) for even less than a year, just to qualify for the parental leave payout. They then don't come back. As a boss, you'd think twice before hiring a newly married woman. As a taxpayer, you'd be stung. As a stay-at-home mother, now to lose your baby bonus, you'd feel punished.