CategoryTax

The Myth of the Dole Bludger

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We’ve all heard it. The confident declaration by a friend, relative or work colleague that the country is being ruined by all the dole bludgers out there; people living all too well off the money we earn and they don’t. The problem is, it’s just not true. You know the dole and other allowances paid to the unemployed are too low when the Business Council of Australia and one of...

Will company tax cuts benefit us?

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On Q&A last Monday night assistant treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer tried to explain to a man on a very low income why it was better for the government to spend $50 billion providing tax cuts to companies than it was to provide tax cuts to low income earners. The argument essentially boiled down to this: lower tax rates will leave companies with more money to invest employing people. Or as a...

You can tax your way to surplus. The tax debate we need to have

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Our new treasurer, Scott Morrison, stated this week that “you can’t tax your way to surplus”. It’s become something of an orthodoxy on the conservative side of politics, but when you stop to think about it, it’s a ridiculous statement.  The only way the government gains revenue is by taxing people, goods and services, and businesses, so the only way the government...

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