The Budget Dilemma

[Aussiejeff]

Great, an idea to protect people who made a wrong investment decision.

I know that this is going to happen.

But what is wrong with them selling the house ?


It will be interesting to see how this occurs with people with considerable equity and other assets though.

Wot?

Sell the house you say? One of Australia's "Working Families" (tm) must SELL A HOUSE??

BLASPHEMER!

HERETIC to all that is KRudd & Good!!

BURN HIM!!!

 

[Calliope]

Wot?

Sell the house you say? One of Australia's "Working Families" (tm) must SELL A HOUSE??

BLASPHEMER!

HERETIC to all that is KRudd & Good!!

BURN HIM!!!

Yes, it doesn't bear thinking about. To sell the great Aussie dream. That's what the first home owners grant is all about. So that kid's with no savings can buy a house and live happily ever after with their huge mortgage.

And when they default (as they inevitably must) the government will step in and protect them from the greedy banks.

 

[Julia]

I read somewhere farmers were being taxed for water in their dams on their land. Water tanks next?

moXJO, you may consider you are being facetious about water tanks, but it actually has seriously been considered that water collected on home owners' properties in the tanks they have installed will be taxed on the basis that "it's a substance of common ownership that falls from the sky".

 

[Julia]

Great, an idea to protect people who made a wrong investment decision.

I know that this is going to happen.

But what is wrong with them selling the house ?


It will be interesting to see how this occurs with people with considerable equity and other assets though.

Might reassure you to know that not everyone has gone soft.
Foreclosure on a house in our street last week. Bailiff came to throw the people out - gave them five days. Then changed the locks and posted a notice on the front door that anyone other than the mortgagor on the property would be trespassing and police would be called.
Property would be worth around $650K. No idea what equity owners had.

 

[moXJO]

moXJO, you may consider you are being facetious about water tanks, but it actually has seriously been considered that water collected on home owners' properties in the tanks they have installed will be taxed on the basis that "it's a substance of common ownership that falls from the sky".

Crazy stuff, makes you want to kick a pollie

 

[BradK]

Where does the money come from when we go into deficeit? And what are the terms?

Brad

 

[Smurf1976]

That amount of income is not rich in Sydney ... I think the threshold would be higher, it is still about retaining votes.

I'm only saying that since it's the threshold level used in various other government programs which presumably reflects current thinking as to what is "rich".

 

[Aussiejeff]

TREASURER Wayne Swan has ramped up expectations of a horror budget on May 12, warning of "very tough calls" and "decimated government revenues" in the face of the most challenging conditions in 75 years.

The language, the Treasurer's strongest yet, came as forecaster Access Economics warned there would be no new tax cuts for a decade and Victoria's economy would shrink for two years.

Endorsing the thrust of the report, Mr Swan said it confirmed "the brutal impact of the global recession on jobs, growth and revenues".

The report also said the Government would have little room for further stimulus packages as it faced a downswing in revenues "deeper and sharper than in the recessions of the early 1980s and early 1990s".

http://www.theage.com.au/national/tough-calls-on-budget-as-deficit-heads-for-50bn-20090427-ako0.html

Of course, the Pretty Pollie's "fully-independent-and-at-arm's-length-with-no-pressure-on-their-jobs-if-they-don't-give-the-pollies-a-pay-rise-because-they-set-them-up-in-the-first-place-and-pay-them" Remuneration Tribunal couldn't possibly reverse their decision to up Pollie's allowances, now, could they?

Come to think of it, how many times in the past eons have pollies had their pay frozen *gasp* or reduced *horror* due to the poor hoi poloi suffering "tough economic times"?

Funny.

None spring immediately to mind.

 

[moXJO]

Look!!! Its time for labor to show its economic conservatism now the money has run out.

 

[Calliope]

Poor old Swanny has a real juggling act. He has to produce a tight "horror budget" without alienating all those who have become dependant on taxpayer funded handouts and who have raised Rudd's popularity ratings.

The minority outside this government created demographic can expect a good slugging.

 

[Soft Dough]

Poor old Swanny has a real juggling act. He has to produce a tight "horror budget" without alienating all those who have become dependant on taxpayer funded handouts and who have raised Rudd's popularity ratings.

The minority outside this government created demographic can expect a good slugging.

ie the people who are least likely to vote labor....

It works out beautifully for the government, they cannot annoy high income earners any more than they already do, and low income earners will cheer them all the way when they are increasing taxes of high income earners.

 

[Aussiejeff]

ie the people who are least likely to vote labor....

It works out beautifully for the government, they cannot annoy high income earners any more than they already do, and low income earners will cheer them all the way when they are increasing taxes of high income earners.

Robbin' da 'Hood?

 

[Calliope]

It has been tipped that the dole queue will reach 1,000,000 by the end of next year. On the present rate of $227 p/w for a single person you would need to budget for $12 billion annually to cover that meagre rate. That many people receiving that barely subsistence allowance, will be a powerful voting block at the next election.

Budget cannot afford higher dole payments

Phillip Coorey Chief Political Correspondent
April 29, 2009
PLEAS from the welfare lobby for unemployment benefits to be increased in next month's budget are falling on deaf ears because the Government is reluctant to commit to what will be a burgeoning and permanent expense.

As the budget committee of cabinet met again yesterday, sources told the Herald that increasing the pension was the most significant cost challenge in the budget and single-aged pensioners, the most needy, would be the focus.

With the number of unemployed anticipated to approach a million by the end of next year, the same time an election is due, the Government is unable to afford increasing the dole which pays $227 a week for a single person.

A single aged pensioner receives about $277 a week.

While no final decision had been made, a senior source said what money could be found for the unemployed would be better spent on job retention and creation programs, rather than a permanent and increasing structural commitment costing billions. This was guiding the Government's thinking.

The chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Services, Clare Martin, said yesterday the dole, as well as sole parent payments, were below the poverty line and there were cases of people subsisting on baked beans.

http://business.smh.com.au/business/budget-cannot-afford-higher-dole-payments-20090428-am0v.html

 

[Mr J]

said yesterday the dole, as well as sole parent payments, were below the poverty line and there were cases of people subsisting on baked beans.

I suppose she wants the doll to maintain their previous standard of living .

 

[Soft Dough]

I suppose she wants the doll to maintain their previous standard of living .

This is a prelude to the aging population and how stuffed the budgets of future generations is going to be.

Even more of a reason for Rudd to look at medium and long term solutions to problems like housing ( ie to get the cost down ) and healthcare instead of money handouts to facilitate consumption, which is one of the reasons we are in this mess.

I am a firm believer that a lot of this poverty is due to increased house prices driving increased rents which is due to loose monetary policy directing funds into unproductive asset classes such as housing. A problem made bad by costlello and howard and made worse by swan and rudd.

 

[Struzball]

I suppose she wants the doll to maintain their previous standard of living .

Maybe they should head over to the frugal thread

https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15269

 

[drsmith]

With the Henry Tax Review to be delivered in December I suspect that tax/welfare changes in the May budget will be limited to trimming around the edges and possibly include,

1) Increases in fuel/alcohol/cigarette excises (The usual old favourites for a government with it's hands out).
2) Means testing of the private health insurance rebate (consistent with ALP ideology), most likely at the income level at which the medicare surcharge kicks in.
3) Income tax cuts scheduled for 2009/10 and 2010/2011 dropped either partially or in full.
4) God knows with super but I can't see anything too major given the Henry Review above. Same for so-called middle class welfare. These areas may be considered too difficult to deal with politically prior to the next election.
5) An increase to the single aged pension but less than $30 per week.
6) Dividend imputation to remain intact (Henry review item).

Anything else to add to the above speculation ?

 

[Calliope]

Costello preys on St Kevin's miracle

May 02, 2009
Article from: The Australian

Peter Costello, launching Peter Hartcher's book To the Bitter End in Canberra this week, expresses amazement at The Australian Financial Review's naivety

I AM astounded that the Government, after $100 billion in new discretionary spending since the last election, is briefing to the effect that it is making really hard decisions to save money in the budget. I am even more astounded that this is being seriously reported.

One would think that if it was necessary to save some money then some part of that $100 billion would not have been spent in the first place.

But obviously I don't understand these things.

That realisation dawned on me when I read the front page of the Easter edition of The Australian Financial Review which read as follows: "Rudd's big Easter surprise -- spending and saving at the same time." You can both spend and save at the same time? This truly is a holy mystery. I thought of it over Holy Week. It is something that I will dwell upon for a long time.

 

[Aussiejeff]

Costello preys on St Kevin's miracle

May 02, 2009
Article from: The Australian

Petie just doesn't get it.

We truly CAN "spend and save at the same time".

SPEND now and we will SAVE KRudd's a$$ at the next election.

 

[Dowdy]

Now he's spending another hundred billion we don't have on a defence force we don't need.

This guy is really screwing up the country