Am I out of touch???

You should not admit to doing things like that...

Maybe when he gets his mining job you could ask him to send you a new keyboard, as it seems that yours must be missing several letters (based on your spelling efforts) [}:)][}:)]






sorry, just taking the p**s

Y'see felix, your first mistake was watching that cr@p. Your second mistake was believing that cr@p. According to Centrelink, the Newstart allowance (ie, the dole) is $474.90 per fortnight for a single person with no dependants or $513.80 per fortnight if you have kids.

www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/centrelink

So you don't have to stretch that poor cat brain, I can tell you that that works out to $12,374.40 and $13,358.80 per year. A long way from $50,000 yes? And the dole is not tax-free inasmuch as it has to be added to any other income when working out tax liability.

Also, you may want to learn how to use commas and dots when stating numbers. We use the British system here in Australia.

Why does everyone think that taxes remain 'their' money after paying them?

We are tax payers but it is not tax payers' money. It belongs to the government to spend it on what they want to.

If you don't agree with how they spend it.... vote for the other guys.

Understated!

Problem is the other guy is just like the first guy but with a red shirt on rather than a blue shirt. They both take our money and spend it as they see fit. Neither major party proposes any radical changes such as hugely reducing tax to something like 10% to 15% and at the same time eliminating much of the tax law structure built up over 200 years. Reducing and simplifying the tax system would achieve the following:

1. Reduce the incentive to avoid or minimise tax. Why spend time and money to avoid something that costs so little?
2. Eliminate the armies of public servants, accountants and lawyers who administer the current tax system then employ them in more productively.
3. Stimulate the economy by giving people the choice to spend or save money as they see fit, rather how the government sees fit.
4. Improve personal liberty by reducing the amount of red tape individuals and organisations have to comply with.

If you don't believe its possible check out places like Hong Kong and Singapore. They have low rates of tax and have enough money to send everyone a cheque every year because they collected too much money.

Another change going hand in hand would be eliminating a huge amount of public sector spending such as much of defence.

All we need to defend Australia is one or two nuclear submarines carrying missiles with multiple nuclear warheads. If a foreign country invaded Australia we would guarantee we would obliterate 200 of their largest cities and turn their country into an incinerated, radiated wasteland where the living envy the dead. What country would risk that? That and training Australians to make roadside bombs, use RPGs and AK-47s. These sorts of weapons and guerilla tactics consistently beat the best and most expensive armies in the world. How much would this cost? I don't know but probably one or two billion dollars a year would probably do it easily. Buy the subs off the Russians. They'd be keen to sell them.

The current system of big government is not working. Witness the fiscal disasters facing most western democracies. Australia is escaping it for three reasons. Firstly our tax base is quite high. Secondly governments sold off public assets built up over decades in the 80s, 90s and naughties. Thirdly we are extremely lucky with the amount of minerals in Australia and the skill of the miners who extract them.

I know this is all crazy and way out there but I believe the less government regulation and intrusion into our lives the better.

Sometimes I feel sorry for these people. They have made some poor decisions in life and can't get away from the consequences.

Sometimes we must stop and think about why they made these decisions. Laziness? Poor education? Poor parenting? Childhood neglect?

It's easy to play the blame game. That's was social security is for. Helping the people who didn't have the same opportunity as the rest of us. There will always be some who abuse the system, but most are genuine.

I have paid tax since 1982 and now I am a full time student receiving Austudy. I do not feel guilty.