Category: Tax Policy
-
What the Federal Government spends your taxes on…
So if you earn a bit over $80k in a year you end up paying about $20k in tax – this includes the medicare levy as it should as hypothecated revenue (being revenue collected for specific expenditure) cannot occur under our Constitution so lets just call the medicare levy additional income tax… But what does…
-
$9 billion tax exempt entity…
I was going to complain about how sporting entities are tax exempt – at least some are tax exempt. I was going to compare cinemas to the AFL and wonder why one pays tax and one does not on its profits? I was going to wonder how having clauses in its governing document saying no…
-
Canberra “policy” experts…
Back in 2008 I sat in on numerous meeting of policy “experts”, not tax or housing “experts”, on the set up of first home saver accounts. This was the previous government’s answer to the “housing affordability crisis” – an account you can save for your first home with concessional tax rates on the interest (what…
-
Some people will find a way to complain…
This is a very good parable about how individual tax cuts will always have some people complaining… Every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill comes to $100. They pay their bill the way progressive taxes work. The poorest four pay nothing. The fifth pays $1. The sixth $3. The seventh $7.…
-
Stop saying the rich should pay more tax, just do it
I am over rich people talking about that the rich should pay more taxes. Its not that I don’t think it is a good or bad idea (I recommended it in my pre budget ideas) but before they start telling others what is the right and proper thing to do they should start doing it…
-
Iphone your tax returns…
If you have always want to lodge your tax return through a smartphone, tablet or computer using their web browser you only have to wait till 1 July. From 1 July, the new “MyTax” website will allow certain taxpayers to review prefilled information before lodging their return. So who can use MyTax? – Australian residents…
-
UPEs and Division 7A…
Another discussion paper on how to solve the problem of UPEs and Division 7A has been released… And it is very very interesting. This discussion paper is by the Board of Taxation. And they suggest that a UPE to a corporate beneficiary should be excluded from Division 7A. But if you want a trust that…
-
Why worry about what is important when you can focus on the irrelevant?
Late last year the government indicated it was not going to continue with more than 60 “announced but unenacted” tax and super measures. But it is hard to keep people (and especially tax lobbyists) happy. Even while they applauded this announcement they started to scream… “But what if taxpayers have acted on these announced changes.”…
-
Clearing the Tax and Super Decks
Apart from the changes in the Mining Tax and Carbon Tax repeal bills (small business instant asset write off, carry back losses…), and the promise to remove the means testing of the private health insurance offset, the government only has a series of promises to do certain things the previous government announced. There are 37…
-
Australia as a family budget
When you are talking about billions of dollars of taxes, expenditures, debt and deficits it all gets a bit confusing. So using the 2013/14 MYEFO updated estimate this is what Australia would be like if it was the average Australian family. To start, according to the 2011 Census the median household income after tax is…
TaxRambling.com 