Flood tax, carbon tax

[Leftwinger]

The Government will introduce a modest one-year levy to help pay for the rebuilding effort.
The levy will not be paid by those affected by the floods, will not be paid by lower income earners, and will apply only in the 2011-12 financial year.

The levy is based on an individual’s ability to pay:

· Anyone earning under $50,000 will not pay the levy.
· People earning between $50,000 and $100,000 will pay 0.5 per cent of taxable income in excess of $50,000.
· People earning over $100,000 will pay 0.5 per cent of taxable income in excess of $50,000 and 1 per cent of taxable income in excess of $100,000.


As examples:

· Someone earning $60,000 a year will pay 96 cents per week.
· Someone on average annual adult full-time total earnings of $68,125 will pay $1.74 a week.
· Someone earning $100,000 a year will pay $4.81 per week.

The levy will be paid through tax taken out of regular pay, in the same way the Medicare levy is paid.

To make sure those affected by the floods do not have to pay the levy, anyone who received an Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment for a flood event in 2010‑11 will be exempt from the levy.

http://www.petermartin.com.au/2011/01/p ... llard.html

Gosh, lucky I'm not in the high income earning bracket - however will someone on $100 000 + weather such a cruel blow to their finances? The cost of a Big Mac.

[mantra]

It's the principle here. The problem with only taxing those in the higher income bracket sends out a clear message that they will always have to subsidise those on lower incomes. Although it sounds good in theory, the payors are going to be resentful. When it comes to taxes - everyone should pay their bit, no matter how little.

If it costs the wealthy person a Big Mac - why shouldn't it cost the less wealthy person a cheeseburger? This sort of levy encourages the person on a good income to look for more devious schemes of minimising or hiding their money which overall leads to less tax revenue anyway.

[Jovial Monk]

Mantra, after 12 years of the Rodent the poor are subsidising the rich pretty heavily. About time a small redress was made, don’t you think?

[IQS.RLOW]

http://www.news.com.au/national/alps-re ... 5996488362

And it begins....
FURIOUS Labor MPs have turned on Prime Minister Julia Gillard over the controversial $1.8 billion flood tax, labelling it one of the "dumbest decisions" by a federal government.

Premier Kristina Keneally publicly criticised the levy, calling for western Sydney to be spared its full effects, reported The Daily Telegraph.

As Ms Gillard embarked on a publicity offensive to sell the $5.6 billion flood rescue package, senior Labor figures were shaking their heads at the lack of consultation with Cabinet.

It is understood ministers only received a full briefing on the rescue package a few hours before they met in Canberra on Wednesday morning.

Adding to pressure on Ms Gillard, one of Australia's most powerful unions claimed scrapping the Green Car Innovation Fund would cost jobs.

[Leftwinger]

Should be interesting to see how it pans out.

I've no doubt there's some reaction to it but solid details seem a bit sketchy thus far. This is important to consider since the MSM have a history of whipping up the most extrordinary beat-ups over political issues.

No "furious Labor MP's" are actually named in the article, except Keneally who is not a member of Gillard's cabinet.

No specific sources are actually cited - just "one Labor MP" and "a Labor MP". Who are Mr One and Mr A? Are they two different people or the same person - why aren't we told?

Are the party on the verge of ousting Gillard over this or is it a storm in a teacup?

Whatever is really going on, we should never underestimate the power of the media to whip up public outrage over the gross injustice of the more well-off section of our society having to part with the equivallent of a stubby of beer a week to help rebuild a flood-ravaged nation.

[Jovial Monk]

Lefty, lefty, lefty. Tut tut sir! You expect names, sources, details from the OO? Slurs, misquoting quoting out of context, making stuff up out of thin air that is what you can expect from the national shit sheet.

Kenneally is going down in a screaming defeat in March. You think she might want to pick a (sham) fight with Gillard to look strong, to look like she is fighting for NSW? Could be one seat saved come March.

Fatty O’Barrel is going to be as big a doofus as Baillieu is already proving in Vic

[IQS.RLOW]

No specific sources are actually cited - just "one Labor MP" and "a Labor MP". Who are Mr One and Mr A? Are they two different people or the same person - why aren't we told?

You haven't figured out that Labor politicians are a simpering bunch of cowards who wouldn't dare speak out against the Furher on record?

Fact is, even they knew this was a stupid move and a bad decision

[mantra]

Mantra, after 12 years of the Rodent the poor are subsidising the rich pretty heavily. About time a small redress was made, don’t you think?

From that viewpoint - yes, but the tax still doesn't seem right. Apparently flood relief donations have dropped dramatically and some believe they will disappear altogether as a result of this levy - so it's more the morality behind it - if morality is the right word.

[Outlaw Yogi]

At face value a disaster levy looks like preditory authoritarianism ... so a lot of Joe and Mary Blos probably see it as institutionalised extortion.

[Ethnic]

This new tax is not for Queensland and Victoria, it's just to stroke Julia Taxard's massive ego in the hope that if she steals even more money from us, she may be able to get a budget surplus and pat herself on the back (assuming the puppet strings don't get in the way). She's an opportunistic fuckwad. What a loser she turned out to be.