Agree absolutely on both counts.Every time Abbott criticises the flood levy he opens himself to charges of hypocrisy. He lost any credibility he had with me with his proposal to put a levy on business firms to pay for well paid women to retain their salaries during pregnancy leave. He didn't even bother to consult the party on this.
I have doubts on whether his mouth is wired to his brain.
On one hand, the levy itself is painted by some as an economic disaster – by implication, middle-and-above Australians must still “be doing it tough”. On the other, it raises so little in the general scheme of revenue, you might wonder what the screaming is about.
This damage though is only political and self-inflicted, Julia Gillard shooting the government in the foot through weak politics when presented with an opportunity to be strong. Contrary to some of the scare mongering, it's hard to find any other victim.
Annual tax revenues project $348 billion for next year
Rebuilding task is estimated at $5.6 billion
Levy is $1.8 billion
The response still baffles me
Why make a vague post like this with no clarification.
The levy is optional requiring consent of the governed? But the governed don't know this and if they sign their tax return (which is mandatory) then they have given consent to be levied?
Hogwash, demand a link or retraction.
So I'll re-state what I said before, for those who do not wish to pay the levy you don't have to.
It was plenty clarified on this thread --> https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21087&pagenumber=
Australia is a Common Law country. Statutes and Acts are not laws, but are simply "company" rules and are given the force of law - provided you have consented. Consent is usually automatically obtained (without your knowledge in most cases) in many unique and colourful ways.
Sinner, it's interesting that you screamed "hogwash" without the slightest investigation yourself - sorry that this knowledge isn't front page to make it more obvious for people like yourself.
So I'll re-state what I said before, for those who do not wish to pay the levy you don't have to.
Really? Baffles you? Easily baffled you are.
I am baffled that you are willing to front money that Govt could probably shake loose from it's pocket simply by cancelling all propaganda spending for 1 month.
The attitude of some seems to be "Just lie down and accept it, because after all it's only a pound of flesh, who cares, right?".
Fact is we already have politicians (Dubbo, this morning?) saying they want the levy to be permanent.
Fact is Govt is saying today that rather than tighten their own belts they would rather hit the most fragile and overleveraged section of the Australian economy (household spending) with a tax slug on precisely those with the disposable income required to restart domestic consumption demand!
Fact is, it rained and Govt doesn't even have a measly 0.5% of tax revenues from last year to pay for umbrellas.
EDIT: IFocus selectively quoting Michael Pascoe, why don't you link the article so readers can make up their own minds and read the links that Michael has provided to Jessica Irvines article?
http://www.smh.com.au/business/gillards-weak-politics-let-canards-fly-20110128-1a7g5.html
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/polit...e-come-hell-or-high-water-20110127-1a6s4.html
Oversight on my part about the link
I thought the whole lot was very good as it covered all the points from most angles.........still baffled about the squealing.
Fact is the levy approach is conservative.
Any way need to start talking about the second levy.............LOLROTF
.
Can we expect a new levy every disaster now? What happened to the money I pay in taxes which is supposed to be put aside for rainy days? Or don't we have that anymore? Do we really as a country with 1 trillion a year GDP have not a single dollar saved up for national emergency? Need to cut spending and increase taxes every time?
Fine, let's streamline the whole process and have "just in time taxing" where the Government taxes you right when they need to pay a bill.
How come they don't decrease taxes when times are good then?
Much of the commentary (and certainly reader comments) are symptomatic of another canard constantly in the air, that Australians are heavily taxed. We're not – we consistently score in the lower third of the OECD when it comes to the tax burden. And those paying less than us to their government also tend to get a lot less.
... Do we really as a country with 1 trillion a year GDP have not a single dollar saved up for national emergency? ....
Good start would be single Government for whole Australia.
Ms Gillard says that a soldier called Mick Slater will chair a committee that decides how to spend the levy. Slater seems like a nice little fellow and says all the right things, but no matter what the committee decides it will be bureaucrats who decide how the money is allocated.
Labor bureaucrats have a shocking history of project management. They should co-opt someone from the waste management business.
I'd agree with you on most of the above, C, however Mick Slater served some years in Townsville and I know for a fact he does not suffer fools gladly, an example being how he flagged to the media, a hands off approach to the Floods.
Let us see which Labor flunkie is appointed to "deliver" all the tax revenue. Probably someone who has resigned from the NSW Parliament.
How big is the tribe?
Does that make sense.
The huge swing to the Greens in the election was supposed to show we are a caring nation. Sure, we care for a handful of boat people who are rich enough and lucky enough to become economic refugees. So we pat ourselves on the back.
But the enormity of the Pakistan tragedy is beyond our comprehension. Money is not the answer. Billions were poured into New Orleans with little noticeable effect.
I admit there is nothing we can do except apply small bandaids. We have to resign ourselves to the fact that the ultimate winners will be the Islamic radicals. Revolution thrives on despair. And they will have nuclear weapons.
Conservative compared to what? Just printing the money out of thin air and spending it? After all, it's only 1.8bio like you said!
That is the point, exactly 100%!
Can we expect a new levy every disaster now? What happened to the money I pay in taxes which is supposed to be put aside for rainy days? Or don't we have that anymore? Do we really as a country with 1 trillion a year GDP have not a single dollar saved up for national emergency? Need to cut spending and increase taxes every time?
Fine, let's streamline the whole process and have "just in time taxing" where the Government taxes you right when they need to pay a bill.
How come they don't decrease taxes when times are good then?
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