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Australian Politics General...

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Well at least the RBA and the Government are at last on the same page.
It's also great to see, that the ABC might be getting its mojo back.

Eyebrows raised over RBA advice to Treasury on stage 3 tax cuts

The Reserve Bank of Australia did no independent modelling of the inflationary impact of the stage 3 tax cuts, the ABC has confirmed.
www.abc.net.au

  • In short: There is no appendix of any modelling done by Treasury on the inflationary impact of the stage 3 tax cuts.
  • FOI documents reveal there are no emails or documents related to the RBA's analysis of the cuts.
  • What's next? Economists are warning there will be an inflationary impact to stage 3 tax cuts.
 
Similar here.

My own view is Albo isn't great but he's the best of what's on offer.

I don't like all of the music but at least the band's moderately competent and that beats the Coalition at this point.

I don't feel either of them really represents me or is acting in the best interests of the nation's future but if the choice is one or the other, the one we've got seems the better of the options in my view.
 

Trouble is they have to deal with the Greens and the crossbench. Any government without a majority in both houses is going to be strangled somewhat.

Inefficiency is the price we pay for democracy.
 
I'll take Inefficiency over total control any day of the week.

Imagine Bill Shorten winning the 2019 election and having control of both houses ? LOL

John Howard workchoices ? Not as funny or harmless.

A.D.S. from habitual conspiracy theorists on my ignore list is a reliable inverse barometer of Albo and Co's performance.

Looks like the polls agree
 
SirRumpole said:
Trouble is they have to deal with the Greens and the crossbench. Any government without a majority in both houses is going to be strangled somewhat.

Inefficiency is the price we pay for democracy.
Click to expand...

Its actually by design that Governments are insufficient to stifle radicalization.
 
I'm struggling to understand this story. The ATO has embarked on a program to recover $15 Billion of very old debts owed by around 1.8 million people. To date we have seen stories of all sorts of people , mainly older retired being chased for a few hundreds dollars with absolutely no idea what it was for.

No the ATO is trying to say people can apply directly to the Minister of Finance for a waiver. Really.

On paper the average debt appears to be around $7800 per person. None of this seems to make sense either numerically or politically.


ATO justification for robotax expansion plan revealed by internal documents​

Taxation office reasoned those caught up in controversial scheme could ‘directly seek a waiver from the minister of finance’, a process described as ‘discretionary’


Jonathan Barrett
@barrett_ink
Wed 21 Feb 2024 01.00 AEDTLast modified on Wed 21 Feb 2024 07.43 AEDT


The Australian Taxation Office justified a decision to capture older Australians and those on lower incomes in a controversial scheme that resurrects decades-old debts by arguing that people could always apply to have their debt waived by the finance minister.

However, the debt waiver process – which is carried out by finance officials – is described by the department as “generally an avenue of last resort”, with debts “rarely waived solely on the basis of financial hardship”.

Guardian Australia revealed on Tuesday that internal ATO documents released under freedom of information laws show the agency has been preparing to expand an initiative to clawback historic debts this year. It aims to clawback more than $15bn from 1.8m entities, largely consisting of individuals.

ATO justification for robotax expansion plan revealed by internal documents

Taxation office reasoned those caught up in controversial scheme could ‘directly seek a waiver from the minister of finance’, a process described as ‘discretionary’
www.theguardian.com
 
I think I remember at the time, when a lot of ASF members were going bananas about robodebt and lambasting the Govt, that computer data matching is here to stay regardless of which party is in office.
It's starting to look like time is telling, as it always does.
 
I think the government should interrogate what form the $15B in debts is. I cannot see the value in chasing small figures that are 10 years old from pensioners. But if there are serious debts from people/organisations that are liable perhaps that could be assessed with more care.
As I said earlier I am struggling to see how there is $15Billion of small debts. Doesn't make sense. I would be very cautious about accepting these figures.

Robo debt had clear and obvious fatal mistakes in the calculations. That alone should have stopped it. Not to mention mistakes. It was also targeting the most vulnerable people in the community with the fewest resources and probably the least capacity to attempt to challenge the figures.

Tax commissioner says Albanese government could wipe $15bn in robotax debts

Chris Jordan tells National Press Club the ATO is legally obliged to recoup historical debts affecting up to 1.8 million taxpayers
www.theguardian.com
 
Last edited:
I wonder if the GST fraud Chris Jordan discusses(see previous post) form a significant part of the tax debts ? Just guessing. I find it quite bizarre that 1.8 million taxpayers owe an average of $7,800 each from past issues.
 
basilio said:
I wonder if the GST fraud Chris Jordan discusses(see previous post) form a significant part of the tax debts ? Just guessing. I find it quite bizarre that 1.8 million taxpayers owe an average of $7,800 each from past issues.
Click to expand...
The daughter owed $6k and she had no idea that she owed it. Lol
 
sptrawler said:
The daughter owed $6k and she had no idea that she owed it. Lol
Click to expand...

I understand how Robodebt was such a **** show, they used an entirely different method to calculate entitlements and then refused to admit it, of course there was going be different numbers.

I assume that the ATO situation would be for assessment notices that have been sent to taxpayers and they simply have not paid the debt.

Could be GST, PAYG or even CGT earnings but if they pursue a debt that has been notified then politically it could be a winner.

It may turn out like dole bludgers and the positive reaction people have when one gets busted for working and also getting the dole.
 
The danger here is the "robo" aspect of it.

There's a place for technology but if they don't have real live humans making the calls or sending out the notices after having reviewed them then government has failed to learn from past mistakes.

That costs money but so do most things of a compliance or safety nature.
 
Refer to the British Post Office "Horizon" scandal as a case of what can go horribly wrong.
 
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