$900 handout

[Kez180]

have a couple of friends whom have told to do the exact same thing , as long as you have paid some tax doesnt matter how much you will get the $$

seems unfair i know, especially the people who need it the most those on low income miss out

There is a rebate for anyone with a centerlink benefit as well you know....

 

[Uncertain Times]

One of the certainties in life is tax. People try to get around it and those earning more than $100k are more likely to be avoiding it more so than those of us under $75k.
I am talking about things like negative gearing, using businesses to pay less tax, setting up trust funds for kids, etc.
So those who missed out should be thanking there hard work, luck, whatever that they don't need a $900 "tax rebate".
The governement will need this money back at some stage but by then it will be the Liberal Governments turn in power and they will be spruiking how Labor did this to us all and they will use that to stay in power for a couple of terms.
Enjoy the money if you got it spend it, save it, burn it, whatever makes you feel good.
Just remember though if we stop spending then we all lose our jobs, companies that we want to invest in will go broke, and the whole economy will go under.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt

 

[awg]

Disclosure: I don't get the $900

Brad

LOL


rushing to finalise my 07-08 tax for me and MRS before June 30..what a PIA

I think our incomes will be just low enough to qualify

mine will just be absorbed back to the ATO, as i always have a bill

 

[Julia]

Julia

My point was that I am NOT getting the money. Thought I was but it ended up on the Mastercard. Priceless. Still, I'm doing my bit to keep the economy going.

xox

Yes, I did realise that, Brad, and I should have been clearer in my response. Sorry. It's just the phrase "thank you Mr Rudd" which I seem to have heard ad infinitum recently and so demonstrates the insightless non-comprehension of reality by so many people.

The following is an extract from Colin Twiggs' latest newsletter. It's timely.

Herbert Hoover is one of the most competent administrators, in my opinion, to have ever graced the White House and his reputation as the father of the Great Depression is undeserved. He was, however, the first president to encounter a financial melt-down on the scale of the 1929 collapse and was unprepared for the consequences. His attempts to meet a typical slow-down in the business cycle with accelerated government spending programs and efforts to maintain employment and wage levels proved inadequate to deal with this new threat: a complete loss of faith in the financial system. Having to make up the game plan as he went, and with no real precedent, the result was inevitable.

Hindsight tells us that a federal guarantee of bank deposits may have saved a large number of the eventual 10,000 banks from collapse. And that state-declared bank holidays, in an effort to slow the effect of the run on local banks, merely fuelled the panic. But Hoover's real nemesis was the fall in revenue collection. Rapidly declining private incomes and high default levels meant that state and federal revenue collections shrunk rapidly, curtailing government spending programs and forcing increases in state and federal taxes.

While most governments have long since abandoned the discipline of a balanced budget, and are prepared to go into deficit to maintain spending programs, they should be aware of the pitfalls. Deficits effectively incur debt to be repaid by the next generation in order to rescue the present generation. A common political trick: to enhance the welfare of the current electorate at the expense of someone not old enough to vote. Most voters are aware that this is irresponsible, but condone it on the grounds of necessity.

The trap is that the economy may still contract, despite increased government spending. Consumers have been living above their means for almost a generation, fuelled by a massive debt bubble, and will now have to live below their means in order to restore stability ”” increasing savings and debt repayments.

Collapsing government revenues, as incomes shrink, could cause the deficit to spiral out of control. Federal taxes on corporate income have already fallen by 36 percent (2008 Q4 compared to 2006 Annual, Z1 Flow Of Funds F106), led by a 48 percent fall in the financial sector. Personal taxes fared better, with only a 3 percent drop from their peak. State and local government taxes have barely fallen, largely because of broad based sales taxes. Which reinforces my argument that governments should abandon income taxes in favor of broad-based sales or value-added taxes. But I will save that for another newsletter.

The danger is that governments commit to deficit spending only to find that tax revenues fall further than expected. Attempts to raise taxes in order to keep the deficit under control, as Hoover discovered, reduce both consumption and employment. It does not matter whether you tax the rich or the poor, the result is the same. The only way to avoid this trap is to keep deficit spending to a minimum: aiming for quality rather than quantity. Unfortunately there is little sign of fiscal discipline at present.

 

[insider]

Has anybody entitled to the stimulus package NOT received a letter in the mail?
I haven't

 

[glads262]

Has anybody entitled to the stimulus package NOT received a letter in the mail?
I haven't

Don't be too worried insider - not many people I know have got theirs yet either. you have until may 16th. They are distributing randomly by postcode - and only a % of people in that postcode will get a payment on a particular day. Just a way to make sure that everyone doesn't get it all at once and rush the shops...

Or perhaps the AOFM is waiting for the latest bond proceeds to replenish the RBA account?? It must be getting low by now!

 

[insider]

Don't be too worried insider - not many people I know have got theirs yet either. you have until may 16th. They are distributing randomly by postcode - and only a % of people in that postcode will get a payment on a particular day. Just a way to make sure that everyone doesn't get it all at once and rush the shops...

Or perhaps the AOFM is waiting for the latest bond proceeds to replenish the RBA account?? It must be getting low by now!

Cheers I was feeling a little left out and rejected...

 

[Prospector]

I hardly know anyone who HAS received it. Three more weeks before it is time to worry insider.

 

[pacestick]

I have told my family not to buy tickets in lotteries four of is entitled and not one recieved yet

 

[ThingyMajiggy]

I haven't recieved mine yet either, its about 50/50 with the people I know, most are students though who recieved theirs a while ago.

 

[JimBob]

I got mine today, my wife hasnt got hers yet though. We are both putting our $900 into our house deposit fund. I know a few others who have received their cheque, but quite a few others who havent.

 

[sam76]

my wife made a capital loss last year.

She paid her taxes but got it all back due to the loss.

is she entitled?

(she fits all the other 'entiltlement' criteria)

I hate everything to do with tax.

 

[gav]

Got mine today. Half towards my new mortgage (settlement was yesterday), half towards charity.

 

[wicked]

Tax Bonus Overview

Use the Tax bonus Calculator to find out if your eligible! I just got my yesterday! It went straight into my credit card. I think it is done alphabetically.

The 7.6 million people who lodged their 2007-08 tax return before the end of March 2009 will receive their payment between early April and mid May 2009.