We have several tax brackets in our taxation system which see a person being taxed at a slightly higher rate for each tax bracket that they reach in any financial year.

WHAT STRUCK ME was that the upper most tax bracket is $180,001 “AND ABOVE” Considering it is quite common “THESE DAYS” for CEO’s and some others to be earning several MILLIONS of dollars in a financial year…….. SHOULDN’T WE HAVE TAX BRACKETS TO CATER TO THEM?

Why should someone on $180,001 per year pay the same marginal tax rate as someone like Gail Kelly (Chief Executive of Westpac) who earned $9.18 Million for the year 2013?

If there is fair and valid reason to differentiate between taxpayers earning less than $180,001 per year there surely is good reason to start to differentiate between those on incomes which far surpass $180,000.

I know that these people who earn half a mill or more will scream and whine that they pay more than their fair share in tax…… WELL NO! you do not, if all of us are paying a rate of tax which is determined by a marginal tax rate then those of you who are earning “WELL IN EXCESS” of $180,001 deserve to be placed into a brand new marginal tax rate bracket……. If your salaries and wages are “Out Of This World” why shouldn’t your taxes be as well?

Further more, Government needs to spend more time on tax avoidance and closing down the loop holes which allow people who “CAN AFFORD TO PAY MORE TAX” Avoiding it because of loopholes and expensive taxation specialist and financial advisers.

As for the talks surrounding the states may need to raise the GST, well rather than hitting everyday Australians with another tax increase, why not look at dealing with foreign owned businesses who sell their products directly into Australia and are not collecting/charging and paying any G.S.T. If it is in the “Too Hard Basket” you need to find some better brains to figure it out…… Perhaps charge a licence fee for businesses who are currently exempt from collecting the GST…….

Remember there are many ways to skin a cat! (No Cruelty To Animals Is Intended)

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Thanks for taking the time to read, Cheers!

What is it with “Some” people in Australia these days ?

The last time l checked we were all entitled to freedom of speech, the right to not be discriminated against and among other things the expectation of fairness and equality within our society.

Why is it that some people work hard and only get the minimum wage, while others may “claim” to work very hard and get paid Millions of dollars each year?

Why is it that some people complain that they pay too much tax even though they are in a position where they can most certainly afford to be paying it?

Why is it that those who are down on their luck, entering their twilight years, born with or acquired a disability have become the punching bag of many others?

How can it be that a supermarket giant can “force” a dairy farmer to sell milk to them at a loss or at a ridiculously small margin of profit?

How does someone like Gail Kelly (Chief Executive of Westpac) suffer a pay cut and still earn $9.18 Million for the year 2013?

Before l proceed to much further l should point out that l am not pro socialism or communism, but l am about some degree of equality and fairness across the board for all who live here in Australia.

Do you remember when we got paid “cash” in a lovely yellow pay packet?

I ask this question because it highlights how some at the top end of town have been able to manipulate the system for their own long term benefits.

I say this because when we got paid “cash” we were able to store that money any way we liked….. some would deposit money into a bank and others would stash it under the mattress or carry it around in their wallets or purses. But now days it has become the norm for our wages to be paid directly into a bank account and then we access our money through the banks….. It all sound good in theory, but in practice it is not so good (as many Australian’s are learning)

Obviously “Bank Fees” were a concern at first, because we were all “Forced” to open a bank account (if we did not already have one) and subsequently pay bank fees.

But then it got worse, staff cut backs in banks meant that we would be forced to wait longer in line to be served by our bank tellers, then we would be charged a fee for “excess” staff assisted transactions and the latest one is the charging of $2.00 every time we try to withdraw “OUR MONEY” from an ATM which is not associated with the bank that we are with.

On a side note, it is strange how all the big banks were able to come up with the plan to charge $2 for using opposition ATM’s and impose this further financial impost on the customers at the same time as one another (ACCC are you sure there was no colluding going on there?)

Anyway, my point is that the banks pushed a product many years ago (Direct Deposits) as being a marvelous way of paying employees and a fantastic way for employees to safely receive their wages…… but the truth is that the banks slowly and methodically worked a plan which would see all of our society become totally dependent on the banking system and once we were all trapped they would start to turn the screws and drain us for every penny they could.

I am sure most people have noticed that the big supermarket giants, “Coles” and “Woolies” are slowly buy surely stacking their shelves with the own branded products. For many who read this it may not raise any alarm bells, but for me and l am sure many others it certainly does.

When supermarkets rely on purchasing stock from “Separate” or “Unrelated” companies they must negotiate a price with that company and purchase the stock in the knowledge that “Other” shops and independent supermarkets may also purchase stock from that supplier/company.

As Coles and Woolies establish more and more of their own brands for more and more products, they are also gaining more control over the cost and the sale price of that product simply because their competitors are unlikely to have access to this product.

So when Coles and Woolies bring out their own brands they are shutting the door on many outside suppliers who “used” to supply products to Coles and Woolies and this ultimately means that yet another business slowly falls by the wayside due to a sharp drop in sales and inability to maintain their current workforce as the remaining stores (IGA’s etc) do not make up for the lost demand that results from Coles/Woolies making their own products.

While it may sound “Fine” to many shoppers who think it is great that they can buy certain products from Coles or Woolies at a cheaper cost than they would otherwise pay for the “Brand Name Product” just keep in mind what the banks did to us and ask yourself do you think that Coles and Woolies are slowly working us all towards a situation where there are no other options….. It may well come to a point where we are forced to buy Coles or Woolies owned products because there is nothing else available on the market…… and yes that means Coles and Woolies can start to raise prices as they are the only ones with the products that we may desperately need.

Earlier l did mention the unfairness of wages/salaries and it was with good reason.

We all remember “Work Choices” l am sure. That was all about trying to make our country more competitive and more productive, but the problem was that it was a blatant attack on the little guy or girl. If you were an employee or contractor you were expected to do more work, longer hours and take home less pay (in most cases) yet those at the top of the tree were not subjected to such ridiculous treatment.

Tony Abbott as our current Prime Minister earns a salary of around $507,000 and Joe Hockey around $365,000 while a Backbencher earns around $195,00 per year.

Now many would say that some of these politicians do not deserve a penny, but they are elected to “RUN OUR COUNTRY” and l guess they all need to be paid for their efforts (Good, Bad or Indifferent)

But how is it that “Mark Scott” Managing Director of the ABC earns about $678,000 ?
Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson” earns about $$784,000 ?
The PM & Cabinet Secretary “Ian Watt” earns about $802,000 ?

And then if we look at CEO’s, like “Gail Kelly” (Chief Executive of Westpac) who earned $9.18 Million in 2013

It becomes clear that there is certainly some in Australia who are being paid out of proportion to others, and well out of kilter with what the “Average Australian” earns in a year.

For people to be paid such massive salaries, the money must be sourced from “somewhere” be it the tax payer who pays the wages/salaries of the Public Service or be it the consumers who goes a long way into paying the wages/salaries of the CEO’s and highly paid executives of so many companies throughout Australia.

So when you see someone doing it tough, please do not look at them as being a “bludger” or a “Loser” or a “Poor Decision Maker” and rather look at them as being in the group of Australians who are being left behind.

Our country can not afford to have people at the top earning so much money “UNLESS” they pay a higher rate of tax. If these people who “believe” they are worth Millions each year want to argue about their level of tax, let me make the following points

(1) If you earn an excessive income in the eyes of most Australian’s then perhaps it is only fair that you also pay an excessive amount of tax as a result.
(2) What ever your tax rate may be, l am sure your NETT income will still remain the envy of many Australian’s
(3) The taxes that you do and will pay allow the Government to fund a lot of things including Health, Education, Welfare and many other critical and important services. When your time on earth has ended….. wouldn’t you like to think that your fellow Australian’s would ensure that your children, grand children, great grand children (and so on) are all looked after and taken care of in times of trouble and difficulty?
(4) Remember that you did not build Australia on your own, many pensioners played a bigger role than you did and perhaps it is fair that you consider to contribute a lot more to Government revenue on behalf of those who lived, worked and went to wars before you in order for Australia to be the country that it is.

The issue comes down to people/companies showing a lack of morals and a lack of fairness to others. There only only so many jobs, which means there will always be people without work, there is only so much wealth at any given time so please do not “hog” too much to yourself, graciously hand a bit more back by the way of taxes or charity donations (Tax Deductible) Spend less time with your taxation adviser or financial adviser who helps you avoid or reduce your tax bill and begin to show some compassion, decency and generosity to those who are less fortunate than yourself!

Ohh and do remember that people who are doing it tough may resort to all sorts of measures in order to survive, so if you are one of those lucky ones earning several hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) each year and owns a big home and a number of holiday houses and flash cars………. What good are all hose flash cars if the streets are no longer safe to drive them on ?

Many of us have seen or heard about Clive Palmer, but l wonder how many people “really know” Clive Palmer ?

Ok l must confess l do not know Clive Palmer personally, but l do know enough to say that Clive cops a lot of unfounded crap and criticism from the general media.

I have watched “Paul Murray Live” many times and have heard Paul Murray “Bag and Belittle” Clive Palmer. Janine Perret who is also on the Paul Murray Live show has also said some quite harsh things about Clive and the list of journalist who have jumped on the band wagon to talk poorly about Clive Palmer is long and unjustified.

The simple fact that Clive Palmer is extremely wealthy does not by definition mean that he is flawed or has ulterior motives for running for government.

Many might have jumped to the conclusion that Clive Palmer wanted to get into politics to throw a bit of weight around and improve things for his own business interests……. but that is simply ridiculous to think that he would even consider doing that, let alone the fact that it would be highly improbable that Clive Palmer could do it even if he wanted to.

I do remember watching a story on Clive Palmer a few years ago. The story mentioned a number of things but the one thing that stuck in my mind was the fact that Clive Palmer gave his employees a massive surprise (present) depending on how many years of service they had dedicated to Clive’s nickel refinery operations. Some employees got Mercedes Benz cars, others got overseas holidays, but the point was that Clive was generous enough to go above and beyond to reward those who had been a part of his team.  This was a clear indication that Clive Palmer does appreciate the little people who contributed to that refineries success and he was generous enough to reward each and every one of them.

On a side note l also remember “Grendas Bus Lines” (Ken Grenda) did something similar when he sold his bus company for $400 million. He very generously gave the workforce a surprise cash bonus according to how many years of service and some workers got $100,000. In total l think Ken Grenda gave away $15 million dollars to his work force.

Anyways, back to Clive Palmer……I watched a press conference yesterday where Clive advised the media that he would be introducing a bill into parliament in the next 2 months to try and force the politicians to wait for their super until the same age that the rest of us are forced to wait. Currently politicians can access their superannuation at age 50….. YES! they can get their super at 50 years of age! Yet the rest of us have to wait until retirement age, which currently is 65, but as we know the Gillard/Rudd/Swann Labor government raised the retirement age to 67 and now the Tony Abbott LNP government are moving it further again to the age of 70. So while the pollies can still claim their massive super at age 50, we all get to work and work and work and eventually if we are still alive we can get our super at 70…. Well Clive Palmer thinks that is wrong and it is unfair, hence he will introduce a bill to try and make politicians wait until the age of 70 (like the rest of us)

While l was watching that press conference l learned that Clive Palmer is currently working as a politician for FREE! yes Clive Palmer gives away every penny of his parliamentarian salary to charities within his electorate.  So not only is he trying to keep the bastards honest, he is doing it for zero financial gain for himself

I think there is a large percentage of people in Australia who might have jumped to the wrong conclusion about Clive Palmer due to the fact that he is a billionaire and/or because of the unfair media bias against him. But i will say the more you read and watch and learn about Clive Palmer the more you will realise that he is a damn good Australian and a very smart businessman who would run our country like a well oiled machine and he would ensure the entire Australian population were rewarded accordingly.

 

Well it is budget night tonight and we all get to find out how many lies Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and the rest of the LNP crew told us pre election.

With all the media leaks it certainly seems that us Australians have been lied to and completely mislead and if the leaks are correct, we will all be enduring 2 years of cuts and 2 x years of pain.

Yes l did say “2 x years” because generally what happens is the government of the day treat us like friends and family “pre election” and they once again treat us like family and friends during the final year of their term…….. but the in-between period is around about 2 x years and that’s where we are right now….. at the beginning of the 2 years of pain.

When Juliar Gillard promised “There will be no carbon tax” pre election and then turned around and hit us with the worlds biggest carbon tax soon after forming minority government we were all dirty and angry with her for that “lie” and Tony Abbott went to town on the Labor Party day in day out because of that lie……. yet it seems that while the tables have turned and the LNP are now in government they also think it is ok to do as Juliar Gillard did and begin to break promises.

Why is it that anywhere else you would run the risk of being fired or having your contract “breached” if you attempted to mislead, lie, re-neg, fail to deliver to your employer, yet the previous Labor government and this current LNP government seem to be able to breach our trust and remain in their jobs for the full term of their contract.

I guess we could rally on the streets and burn down government buildings and force the government out….. but we would not actually want to go about it that way as we are far more civilised than that.  But just because we are civilised should not mean that these recent governments should be able to break promises and tell lies as they have been doing.

There ought to be a way that the people can call an immediate referendum and vote for a fresh election when certain criteria are meet. So perhaps when a government break election commitments without valid reason they should run the risk of being thrown out of office as a result of that breach of trust.

We have seen many recent conflicts around the world because the peoples lack of faith and respect for their government.  The recent examples of Australian government are by no means as bad as those in Syria, Israel, Egypt etc etc, but the Australian Government is far from perfect and we deserve much much better than this.

Like many others, l will watch the budget on television tonight and see how many broken promises and lies l can count…… I hope l do not count any….. but somehow l have a feeling there is going to be quite a few!

 

How often do we read the newspaper or watch the nightly news and hear about a vicious crime that has taken place only for the offender to get off quite lightly ?

It frustrates me when l hear of someone who has been found guilty of murder, rape, drug trafficking or some other very serious crime who ends up getting a sentence of anywhere between 2 and 14 years.

As far as murder is concerned, this is really a “no brainer” when you commit a murder you have robbed someone of their life and you have also robbed all of their family and friends of someone they knew, loved and enjoyed spending time with and around. So as far as l am concerned, when you are found guilty of murder you ought to “Never Be Released From Prison”

Ok l understand that our justice system likes to give people reason to show remorse and an option of rehabilitation, but surely when you intentionally take someones life you do not deserve a second chance…….. The victim is not going to be given a second chance so why should the perpetrator?

As for rape and serious sexual assault, once again the victim will be forced to live with that experience for the remainder of their life and they will most likely lead a less enjoyable life as a result of the sexual assault, so once again why should anyone who intentionally rapes or commits a serious sexual assault be allowed to serve any less than 15 years in prison ? Maybe it should be more than 15 years, but as far as l am concerned it should not be a day under 15 years.

Drug Trafficking……. well this is one of my pet hates. The people who manufacture and traffic drugs are preying on the vulnerability of people in general and they are ultimately profiting from the misery and destruction they cause as a direct result of manufacturing, supplying and pushing these drugs.

We as a nation are all victims of the effects of drugs. Due to people’s dependency on a drug once hooked these addicts will do just about anything to get the money together to buy yet another hit. Often this money is raised by robbing,  burglarising, defrauding and/or stealing from innocent people within our community. So these drug traffickers may be driving around in lash cars and be wearing thick gold chains and what ever other luxuries they may have, but when they are caught they ought to be dealt with in such a harsh fashion that they pay the price for what the did do and what they will continue to do to our community for many years to come.

I understand that we can not get “too tough” on the young kids who are just plain and simply “stupid” enough to pickup and deliver small quantities to their friends, but we do need to be a little tougher on these fools and ultimately we need to show “No Mercy” to the “king Pins” and the “Big Boys”. When a raid is carried out and large quantities of drugs are found the guilty parties must be locked up for no less than 20 years and even longer if possible.

We need to change the sentencing act and we need to have some very strict guidelines for judges who are handing down these sentences so that we do not end up with some criminals getting off lightly when they really ought not be

We need to gain control of our streets and take the steps to ensure that people who do inflict grief, pain, fear etc onto our community are dealt with in a way that sees them adequately punished, but also send a message to everyone that serious crimes will not be tolerated and the option of a second chance is very limited when you do commit a serious crime.

Getting tougher on serious crime will serve a couple of purposes, one it will see the offender paying a significant penalty for his or her actions and it will also send a strong warning that the community is getting very tough on serious crime. The other thing it will do is it will give the victims and the family of victims some sense of justice as the victim will be serving a very long time behind bars.