Labor loves tax

[stui magpie]

^

Clearly the latter.

[David]

[stui magpie]

Nup, Tax is a necessary evil. It's how Governments get revenue to provide services and it's their responsibility to use it responsibly, for the social good. They should take no more than they need to and the public service should be no bigger than it needs to be, not bloated and inefficient.

[David]

Government efficiencies can (and should) always be addressed, but that’s not necessarily tied to a higher or lower tax rate. I don’t think we’ve ever reached a point where all areas of public need have been satisfied and additional government spending is superfluous. I think it’s reasonable to assume that across-the-board tax cuts will inevitably lead to important services being underfunded. And if, as Woods of Ypres points out, the system isn’t fair, that should also be corrected.

This is why the negative gearing rort, for instance, drives my generation crazy. We see areas of need, and then we also see wealthy people with multiple properties getting chop-outs that do nothing to aid the economy but only incentivise property hoarding. It’s a tax concession that isn’t needed, and that just increases the burden on the rest of us.

It’s a complicated (and ever-shifting) equation to balance all this, but balance is essential and governments need to be constantly striving for it. Taxing smartly and fairly is key to that.

[stui magpie]

There's nothing fair about the system, there's winners and losers , but overall our system isn't bad. Could be better but could be worse. There's a balance between how much the Goverment(s) should intervene and how far they should stand back. Employing more people in the Public Service (eg, Victoria) doesn't mean more stuff gets done, it can actually have the opposite effect.

Get over the negative gearing "rort", without it there wouldn't be as many rental properties and housing prices wouldn't be more affordable.

Blame Governments, of both colours and both state and federal if you want for basically abandoning public housing for the notion of encouraging middle class home ownership, a script that goes back many decades,

[David]

[stui magpie]

I broke my rule about the Guardian and read that. I'll wash my hands in a minute.

I'm not sure if they're comparing apples with apples there. In many of those countries, the Social Security is higher than the personal income tax component.

How many of those countries pay a generous government (social security) aged pension on retirement? Use France as an example, from what I can figure out, once you turn 65 you get an aged pension, no asset test, based on 50% of your highest average salary. That's baasically a compulsory (and inefficient) superannuation scheme and an ongoing expense to their government that ours doesn't have, because we have employer funded super.

If you ignore the Social Security component and just look at the Personal income tax piece, we are quite above the OECD average.

[What'sinaname]

What?!? a new tax.......

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... users.html

[doriswilgus]

So you think vaping is good for you,do you? You do read some interesting comments in this place,but not interesting in a good way.

[What'sinaname]

So you think vaping is good for you,do you? You do read some interesting comments in this place,but not interesting in a good way.

If was not good for you, would the Government not ban it, or make it illegal. Instead, Labor look at it as a new tax opportunity.

[stui magpie]

So you think vaping is good for you,do you? You do read some interesting comments in this place,but not interesting in a good way.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britai ... nder%2018s.

Vaping may not be good for you, but according to the British government, its a lot better than cigarettes

[doriswilgus]

I think Australian health authorities have a very different view of vaping compared to their British counterparts ^They claim that it’s just trading one form of nicotine addiction for another,and shouldn’t be encouraged in any form.

[think positive]

So you think vaping is good for you,do you? You do read some interesting comments in this place,but not interesting in a good way.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britai ... nder%2018s.

Vaping may not be good for you, but according to the British government, its a lot better than cigarettes

it is,

but the scary thing is making it in juicy fruit flavours to get kids hooked.

god knows i damn hate second hand smoke, at least vap smoke. while annoying, doesnt make my hair stink and destroy my lungs! im all for that!

[stui magpie]

I think Australian health authorities have a very different view of vaping compared to their British counterparts ^They claim that it’s just trading one form of nicotine addiction for another,and shouldn’t be encouraged in any form.

you're correct on that, but it's a stupid approach IMHO. Too many absolute wowsers in the medical lobby groups

As it said in the article I posted, ciggaretes are the only legal product to buy, that if used correctly, is likely to kill you. Vaping isn't.

So if you trade one nicotine addicition for another that has materially less harmfull side effects, surely that's a win?

[Woods Of Ypres]

give me a cigarette over a vape any day, at least a cig won't give me wet lung, lipoid pneumonia and god knows what else