Do you have any idea how hard it is looking after someone with dementia?
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I wish it were that simple.
A flat GST rate is regressive because lower-income people end up paying a higher percentage of their income as tax on an identical transaction.
If GST is 10% and I earn $100k per year and I pay $1000 to get a new transmission in my car so i can get to work, I pay 0.1% of my annual income as tax on that transaction. If i earn $50k per year, then I pay 0.2% of my annual income as tax for the identical transaction. That is the very definition of regressive.
And messing with GST exemptions is a very fraught pastime, as John Hewson found when he lost the âfightbackâ election after being bamboozled by the GST-applicability of birthday cake on the 7:30 report.
So you want raw food to be GST free. Fine, I can see the entirely logical intention there. But that means that in reality, GST applies to bread and 2 minute noodles, but not to fresh crayfish. You want clothes to be GST free, and education? Cool, I can see the intention there. But that means that little Tarquinâs Xavier fees are GST free, as is the $2000 cocktail dress his mum wears to his school musical, while their housecleaner has to pay GST on the myki she uses to get to Toorak to scrub their floors.
GST exemptions are a pathway to nightmarishly complex legalities and inevitable inequities, and the more well-intentioned exceptions you try to cut out, the more complex the tax code gets and the more loopholes open up. and, of course, the higher you have to raise the rate on non-exempt stuff to make up for the lost revenue, which in turn exacerbates the inequalities. This is why when Howard brought in his GST in the first place, he tried his guts out to have no exemptions whatsoever.
And of course if you stack the GST rate up a significant amount, youâre going to have to meaningfully increase the dole, the pension, plus disability/veteranâs pensions etc, because GST increases are murder on people on fixed incomes. And you royally screw over people who have retired and are living on a modest income stream from their super funds, who donât pay any income tax but find a large portion of their purchases significantly more expensive all of a sudden due to increased GST, and have no real way of increasing their income to compensate.
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Well, ⌠if you know what the definition of a regressive Tax is, ⌠then you know that a GST is regressive right??
This is what Iâm not getting, ⌠youâre not making sense ATM.
WTF
âHe doesnât meet people like meâ
You really do have the wrong idea about this bloke. PM me your address and I will get him to pop around for a beer.
âPolicies are weakâ
Again farking Frogshite, have you read them ?
Now there are some things I do not agree with, but and some I would improve, but it is a wide string agenda.
Well HM, you are far too clever to believe everything you post.
I often wish that Labor would do everything I want, but then reality pops up its ugly head. Labor does not exist for you or me alone, and its policies and actions have to be as fair as they can to all. I would want a pure socialist doctrine, nationalising all major industry and regulating much of our livestock, but that would get a very small vote in our Parliamentary Democracy.
So we compromise in order to actually win Government, so we can implement our Agenda.
And seriously for you to state that Labor Governments do nothing, is just plain wrong. Often they try to do far too much. In my lifetime from Gough to Hawke to Paul to Kev to Julia, the only positive changes have been due to their Governments.
I would much rather Givernment to do something than farking nothing like Turnbull and that previous Liberal Government in Victoria.
Give Bill a chance, he will surprise you.
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Iâm honestly surprised you make this statrment especially since you work in a hospital. I agree fwiw as people just go to the black market for cigarettes in particular now.
For me, Bill over Malcolm every day of the week. Arrogance and lack of humility is what I find most contemptible in anyone ; Malcolm has demonstrated this in spades with some appearances on tv etc. I recognise my bias, thus I would like to think I would vote mainly on policy rather than personality.
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They did, his name is Malcolm.
Policy is more important than personality.
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Staunch Liberal here but feel both major parties have lost their way and have moved away from what they stood for. Donât ever envision the day where I would vote for the ALP though
You must own a multinational or other large corporation, then. The Tories really donât care much for anyone else (between election campaigns at least).
I understand your point and I agree that it would be regressive, if we did not have âGST Freeâ items
But as it stands most essential expenses are GST Free, including some of the items
most basic food
some education courses, course materials and related excursions or field trips
some medical, health and care services
some medical aids and appliances
some medicines
some childcare services
Keep in mind, I said to increase the tax free threshold - so the very low income earners would all get a tax cut.
Whilst we are at it, we could use GST as a way of influencing consumer decisions. Bicycles under $500 are GST Free, solar panels/water tanks etc all GST Free.
Not to mention the extra income we would stand to make off the cash economy individuals who declare nothing, or the Uni students living in Doncaster, who do not have a job - but are driving around in the latest BMW/Merc.
But then there is fuel and transport, then there are essential services like electricity, water, gas etcâŚ
School fees are GST free but things like pencils and workbooks arenât. I donât even think school uniforms are GST free.
By the time youâve finished removing the essential the GST % will have to be huge.
Then the poorest of the poor who donât pay income tax anyway will still be hit by the GST and now at a higher percentage too.
Iâd prefer to remove the GST and increase income taxes. Then the fringe benefits are what iâd look at next (business expenses, rebates, trusts, that sort of stuff).
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You really should be listening to what Wim is saying, heâs only saying what the majority of the swing voter says. Bill doesnât resonate in anyway with the broader population.
We want labor to win the next election. But Bill and this group are about to lose to the worst government in 100 years.
Get Plibersek. Yesterday.
You say a lot, give him a chance, he will surprise you or allude to if we him weâd see a different guy.
Do you not see the problem with that? I hope so because the country does not have the time to wait for you and your mob to have the penny drop.
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The catch is the final turd Rudd laid, the over-elaborate process to change leader. Allows the Liberals to call an election when it is unknown who the alternative Prime Minister is!
(Yes, we literally vote for a representative of a party, not a preferred PM, but you can imagine the chaos it would cause.)
Or Albo, even.
In this multi media era, the party leader must be immediately attractive to the public â charismatic, even. Itâs a depressing development, but itâs real and canât be avoided.
Bill just doesnât have IT. As they say in Hollywood, the camera doesnât love him. While the party faithful who worship the Light on the Hill might accept Bill as leader, the ordinary Joe and Joan Blow swinging voters donât like him, donât trust him.
This mistrust has been fostered and promoted by the ultra right wing media. There are only the ABC and Fairfax (sometimes) who donât preach the Fascist partyâs twisted propaganda. Bill has no hope as Labor leader. He has had a charisma bypass and anyway Murdochâs minions have poisoned the publicâs mind against him.
Albo, from the Sydney working class would have been a better choice than Xavierâs Billy Shorten. Albo is a man of the people, trusted, and liked. He used to come across as a bit of a bumbler, but thatâs well under control nowadays. His recent appeal to the business community was seized upon by the gutter press and presented as an attack on Shorten and even as a play for the leadership â which is absolute nonsense born of desperation. In his well-measured speech, which closely followed existing Labor policy, Albo struck not at Shorten but at the Fascist Partyâs business support base, which has terrified Trumbleâs troops. Brilliant. Iâve yet to hear a journalist recognise this fact, by the way.
But in this media-manipulated age the best choice would have to be Plibersek. She is highly intelligent, articulate, and left-wing (in Labor terms, anyway). In addition, the camera loves her.
The only mud they can throw at her is the attack she made some 15 years ago on the Israeli Government of Ariel Sharon for its shabby treatment of the Palestinians. That criticism didnât go down at all well with Australian Zionists, such as the current Member for Melbourne Ports who is no friend of hers as a result. Thatâs one lobby group who wonât be supporting her. But as I said, as far as I know, thereâs nothing else in her record that can be used against her.
Labor should never have allowed Billy to become the face of the Party: itâs high time they returned him to the back room where he belongs, because thatâs where he has done his best work
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Say what you want about him now, but the broader public ate Rudd up with a spoon
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She deserves a medal for that comment.
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And that ended well didnât it !
You guys just donât get it. Whether it is Bill, Albo, Tania or the Drovers Dog, the Policy is the same.
Whether you like him or not, Bill Shorten has united the Labor Caucus and the Labor Party like no other Leader in my experience since pre-Whitlam.
If Labor loses the next election because of a popularity contest, then all you farkers get the Government you deserve.
During that time, Howard did not do interviews. He refused to be questioned about policies outside of the parliament walls. He avoided face to face public scrutiny of policies. Triple J,at one stage, were celebrating that one of their journalist finally asked him a question as he walked into parliament⌠it was the first question they asked him in 12 years.
Then Rudd took over as Labor Leader. Everything changed. Rudd was everywhere. Social media. He was âon the couchâ on morning tv. He was on comedy skit shows. He was on prime time radio with Hughesy, and Macca, and Johno, and every other radio show that called the program by their nick name. He was all over social media.
It was the complete opposite of Howard. He had f*cking nothing. He was so stale and completely outdone and a way he would have never been able to compete with.
A lot can be learnt from that Rudd campaign.
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