Menzies House

Mad About Madden

I first met him at a conservative forum aimed at building skills and networking within the conservative movement, writes Tim Humphries

He was well spoken, genuine and the sort of Australian whose character was demonstrated by the authenticity of his handshake.

My initial impression was that he was a Liberal Party candidate. However upon further investigation it was made known that he was in fact the lead Family First candidate for the Senate in the great state of Tasmania.

900+ Peer reviewed climate sceptical papers

Something to share with our AGW friends when they arc up about there being no peer reviewed literature on the climate sceptics position.

Read More: http://www.populartechnology.net/2009/10/peer-reviewed-papers-supporting.html

MUST READ: A Health Warning For Liberals

Medicine is pressured by a radical socialist transformation. Some of this is top down. Much of it is bottom up, writes Dr Grant N Ross

For 2 years I was the Melbourne University Liberal Club’s token doctor. Turning up late, or never, I would always be out of kilter with JSM, political theories and fights of the day and somewhat under the impression that Kroger was a kind of cheese. Luckily, being a stereotype got me over the line.

I would like to redeem my standing by attempting to write about the direction of health under Labor and the alternative policy direction the Liberal Party should choose when in Government.

The Injustice of the ATO

Gary Kurzer write about the injustices committed by the Australian Taxation Office:

Revelations outlining recent activities of the Australian Taxation Office show that this organisation is not playing fair. Seemingly, this may not be newsworthy, however, if the allegations move into “illegal behaviour” then the concerns are justly amplified.

Journalist Chris Seage has published sensational articles in Crikey which have been reprinted on the ‘SmartCompany’  website.

In one article, Seage has shown how the tax office treats its own employees, by turning the tables on internal dissension and whistleblowers within the organisation to stifle legitimate claims and the rights of its employees. Ironically, the senior ATO staff, being Australian Public Servants themselves, are transgressing the ‘Australian Public Service Values and Code of Conduct’  and threaten the beleaguered ATO employees via the same conduct breaches that they allege against their own staff.

 More sinister are the revelations that the ATO issued a “tick and flick” method to deal with objections. In essence, the ATO instructed staff to “approve 20%” of tax Objections and “reject 80%” of Objections, regardless of tax laws or merit. This must be of concern to all SMEs, and pretty much everyone else. 

Payroll tax

Henry Innis explains the inequities of the NSW State Payroll Tax system.

Without a doubt, payroll tax is one of the dumbest taxes I have ever seen. Here in New South Wales it is set at a rate of 5.45% of wages that are over a certain monthly threshold (depending on the number of days). The threshold varies from $52,855 (28 days) to $58,518 (31 days), with variations on wages paid interstate, wages paid for part of a year, and so on and so forth.

The question is, however, why do we even have payroll tax in the first place?

If you think about it, payroll tax in the form described above is little more than a tax on employment. To tax employers a percentage of what they pay out sounds more like a disincentive for companies to employ, if anything.

Take a company with over 20 employees that exceed the threshold. Given that they will have to pay 5.45% of their wage value as tax, they functionally are paying out for 21 employees. That isn’t to mention high levels of corporate tax rates, income tax, the Goods and Services tax, the Carbon Tax and the myriad more hidden ones that don’t immediately come to mind.

Of course, one of the main arguments for supporting the tax is too raise revenue, particularly for often-vulnerable State Governments (when it comes to revenue, Australia is anything but a nation of federalists). But the solution should never be to create more taxes and to draw more money out of the economy where possible.

Publishing drivel on taxpayer dime

Major Karnage exposes a public media body you may not have heard of

Jeff Sparrow is the editor of Overland, which describes itself as "the most radical of Australia’s long-standing literary and cultural magazines".

Sparrow has some very particular views and a slightly perturbing pseudo-intellectual way of putting them across. Take this blog post today, for instance, where he seems to spend some time flirting with comparisons between the Obama Administration and the Nazis/Stalinists:

living in The Avengers’ universe | Overland literary journal.

Yet you cannot ignore the origins of [Superman] in an era awash with supermen, from the Nietzschean blond beasts so popular with national socialists to the Stakhanovites inspired by Joe Stalin, the original man of steel. That doesn’t mean that the genre’s innately and inevitably fascistic, as is sometimes argued. Nonetheless, the concept of the superhero necessarily rests upon a distinction central to both the far Right and the Stalinist Left – the gulf between the (ordinary) masses and the (extra-ordinary) hero. ...

The cult of the superman developed by the fascists, like its equivalent in Stalinism, was implicitly directed against mobilisations of ordinary people. The Aryan ubermensch was necessary precisely because the untermenschen against whom the fascists raged were so numerous and so well organized ...

High Taxes, Town Planning and Little Room to Move

Scott Lynn argues for an urgent cut in income taxes, as well as better town planning:

Australia is one of the most heavily taxed nations in the world, we are not as lucky as we once were, but we still have the opportunity to get back on track. With the Mining Tax and the Carbon Tax on the way, we face the prospect of skyrocketing up the rankings of the most taxed nations in the world. According to ritholtz.com we are already the 10^th most heavily taxed nation in the world. Furthermore; I am reminded of a well-fitting quote, to the tax debacle we now face. “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." Winston Churchill - Former UK Prime Minister.

All income tax rates are too high, creating less incentive to want to work hard, and achieve our dreams (enough of the road blocks). Income tax rates need to be cut across the board and we need to have a plan to do this. Why you may ask? Well, when people come to this country, they are inspired by some of the folklore, that we really are a lucky country. Although approximately 1/3 of legal immigrants that come here leave, why would that be the case?

This is because housing costs are higher than they should be; partly due to taxes and levies that are imposed on us (individuals, families, charities and businesses), by government; which creates an impost on homes getting built (profitability) for all concerned in the process of building and owning a home. What do they really have to aspire to? A high rate of taxes, c’mon, really! Put simply if levies and taxes are too high, builders and real estate/housing and land creation bodies, have to increase their charges to us, so they can cover their own costs, to make a profit rather than making a loss (creating debt) and increasing the potential for business foreclosure.

Aussies want Rich to Pay More Tax: ACTU

How predictable.

An ACTU-commissioned survey of 1000 people found 60 per cent of those surveyed supported raising taxes for people earning more than $200,000 and cutting taxes for people in the $36,000 and $79,000 tax brackets.

ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said the survey results showed Australians want a fairer system.

"It does show that people are interested in a more equal society and a more progressive tax system," he told ABC Radio.

The survey also showed more people supported extra spending on social services rather than tax cuts.

Mr Lawrence said there was a myth that Australia was a high tax country

Wealth redistribution 101 – ACTU style – stack a “Poll” and manufacture the conclusion.

 

Andy Semple

Follow him on twitter @Bulmkt