I used to think American beer was rubbish too, before I went there
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In an ideal world, that would be the case. However we donât live in an ideal world.
-edit- many ALP and Greens supporters/staff that I know donât seem to understand this. They trust the voting public waaaaay too much. Spend 20min browsing this page (link) on FB and see what you think.
Politics or otherwise, it is impossible to rise to a position of real responsibility and power without being a câ to some people along the way.
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Trinkets for the masses and jewels for the rich
Kaye Lee
Mathias Cormann has always reminded me of a toy I had as a child â a doll with a painted face who had a string in her back which, when pulled, made her repeat one of the limited number of phrases in her repertoire.
This was never more so than when Cormann appeared on Insiders on Sunday.
Regardless of what Annabel Crabb asked, Mathias repeated his pre-prepared lines with his usual deadpan expression and eyes which never seem to join the conversation.
His go-to line was all about bracket creep. He must have mentioned it at least twenty times in his short interview. This is where he tries to convince people on low and middle incomes that he is saving them from the financial disaster of moving into the next tax bracket.
But just how much of a disaster would that be and how likely is it to happen?
During the week, the Prime Minister said that the median income is $53,000 pa. (Some estimates are even lower.) That means that 50% of the population earn less than that.
With annual wage rises of 2%, it would take someone on the median wage 26 years to exceed the current $87,000 threshold to move into the next bracket. A more optimistic 3% annual rise would take 17 years to get there.
Even if they did, it would only be the portion of their income exceeding $87,000 that would attract tax at the higher rate â an extra 4.5 cents for each dollar over the threshold â hardly a disincentive for a pay rise.
If you really wanted to remove a disincentive to work, you would be better served increasing the tax free threshold where the jump is 19c per dollar earned over the threshold or the next bracket where the jump is 13.5c in the dollar. These are the brackets that represent the vast majority of workers and they are getting basically no tax relief.
When the government increased the threshold from $80,000 to $87,000 in 2016, they sold it as a âtax break for middle Australiaâ, but research by the Australia Institute showed that, in 2015, only 14% of all income-earning Australians earned more than $80,000.
And these 14% have already been very well looked after.
A brief summary of changes to thresholds this centuryâŚâŚ
The tax-free threshold has only seen one change when Julia Gillard increased it from $6,000 to $18,200 in 2012 to help compensate for the introduction of carbon pricing.
The second bracket has moved from $20,000 in 2000-01 to the current $37,000 in 2010-11 with an increase to $41,000 to come in 2022.
The next bracket are the biggest winners having moved from $50,000 in 00-01 to $87,000 now and they are bumping it up again to $90,000 in 2018-19, $120,000 in 2022 and then, in 2024, abolishing this bracket entirely, effectively moving the threshold to $200,000
The top tax bracket has also fared well with the threshold moving apace from $60,000 in 2000 to $180,000 in 2008-09 and a proposed $200,000 in 2024.
To summarise the increases from 2000 to 2024:
Tax free $12,200
2nd bracket $21,000
3rd bracket $150,000
Top bracket $140,000
And itâs not only the bracket changes that have inordinately favoured the high-income earners â so have the rate changes.
In 2000, the rates were 17c, 30c, 42c, and 47c for each dollar above the threshold.
The bottom two rates have increased to 19c and 32.5c while the top two have decreased to 37c (and further to 32.5c in 2024) and 45c.
There are also continual calls for the top rate to be further reduced.
The Coalition have adopted the word âaspirationalsâ to describe those who will be rewarded by these tax cuts.
It reminds me of my father, a teacher, who once laughingly said he aspired to having a tax problem.
These tax cuts are designed to help aspirational politicians buy votes by offering trinkets to the masses and jewels to the rich.
They will exacerbate inequality and be paid for by cutting services to those who need them most and by selling off any assets left after previous Coalition fire sales and âasset recyclingâ.
Itâs not bracket creep we have to worry about â itâs the full-speed gallop towards a society deeply divided into the âhavesâ and the âhave notsâ.
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See Bacchus? The Libs understand that most people are stupid!
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Ok, I will put this as succinctly as I possibly can.
Going off what youâre telling us.
Unless Bill can personally meet every voter in Australia, your party is â â â â â â
Itâs getting to the point they only need to understand that the ALP are stupid
Hmmm. I thought he was telling us that Bill was that he and his mates think Billâs a ripping bloke and if we donât agree then heâs content to keep losing election because heâs right and we are idiots. Nose to spite face stuff.
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I actually donât give a Fark what you think about Bill Shorten. You go ahead and believe whatever you like because no matter what I say, you will not change your closed mind.
All I know is that he is treated badly by the Media and the Liberals have continued their campaign to discredit him. They have been doing this since Doc Evatt was Labor Leader in the 1950âs.
Shorten is not perfect, but he will make a great PM if he gets the chance, and Benny, you should know better. Have a look at your Greens Leaders and see how harshly they are treated by the Media. Shorten is Leader so Fark off and vote elsewhere.
I just donât get the mindset, that while you donât like or agree with the current LNP Goverment because of its poor policy and actions, you donât like Labor not because of crap policy but because their Leader is some Machiavellian evil warlord.
No wonder our Democracy is farked
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Nothing you write there is wrong BF.
Thatâs the whole point.
I desperately want Labor to win the next election. Iâm sure most of us non LNP voters do.
But your current leader whilst being a superb party unifier is just not winning the poll of public opinion.
You need to understand this for the sake of the country. Itâs not against bill, itâs about realising whatâs at stake and the mindset of the greater polling population
Ps I left the greens after the last state election.
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LOL
The ALP needs to dump its Leader for the âsake of the Nationâ.
Thing we did that a few times with a poor outcome. You can use the same logic to justify the dumping of Tony Abbott and now Mal Turnbull.
Except Abbott was doing a poor job, even his Party thought so, and Mal is not doing such a good job either. It is their policy and actions that suck in reality.
Bill is doing a good job, so letâs sack him because he is not a Rock Star.
LOL
No, letâs replace him because he doesnât resonate with the voting public. Nothing to do with rockstar. Just common sense if you want to win.
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Isnât his primary function to lead the party into government?
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Winning an election is generally the aim, if your the opposition.
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âNo letâs replace him âŚâ
Wow Boot didnât realise you were an ALP member; go ahead bring on a Vote, you only need 60% of Caucus to agree.
Pointless discussion. You are about as realistic as tripper on this.
Actually his primary role as Leader of the Opposition is to lead the Opposition in Parliament. In fact, he is Leader of the Parliamentary ALP. He is not in fact Leader of the ALP, the President Wayne Swan is.
Do 60% of the caucus want to win the next election?
Sorry Boot, you are the one not being realistic. Shorten is Leader and he will stay Leader until the next election.
Stop whinging and get behind him.
Morgan had a poll earlier in the year about labor leadership in relation to preferred pm
Plibersek (26%) cf. Albanese (19%) and Shorten (15%).
91% of people polled had Plibersek in the top 3 peferences
If Labor Leader Bill Shorten were to resign for any reason, Tanya Plibersek 31% (up 1%) is preferred as ALP Leader ahead of Anthony Albanese 22% (down 5%). Support amongst ALP voters heavily favours Plibersek 41% (up 4%) streets ahead of Albanese 16% (down 12%).