Editor-in-chief: Paul S McAuley
SINCE the dawn of time, taxes have been a part of our life, and will no doubt be a part of our future. Taxes have been the very foundation for providing the revenue for governments to deliver the necessary services to the communities that make up the total boundaries within an electorate.
Of course, taxes have never been popular with tax payers, but no one could disagree that we need taxes to subsidise our hospitals, police, emergency services, infrastructure, and government services and departments. What tax payers will disagree with is the appropriateness of certain taxes and how these taxes are distributed and administered.
During Gough Whitlam's Prime Ministership, he introduced new government funded services such as social security and medicare, which meant new government departments had to be implemented, buildings and staff had to be acquired to facilitate the new government policies. Money doesn't suddenly fall from trees and it certainly didn't back in Gough's time, so taxes had to rise, cost of living had to rise, and therefore that put pressure on inflation.
In the Hawke/Keating years, new policies were introduced which actually relieved the government to some extent, of financial burden. Instead of automatically rising or adding taxes (which did eventually follow), the government made an unpopular decision to sell assets. The govt owned and operated the Commonwealth Bank (CBA),which was deregulated and partly sold off, as to was Qantas when the airline industry was also deregulated.
The Howard/Costello era wasn't immune from unpopular policy change either. The highly unpopular GST (Goods and Services Tax) was introduced in John Howard's second term shortly after the referendum at the federal general election was held. This tax of course was a tax reform, and not a general new tax. Sales tax was abolished, and new discrepancies were later found in the first phase of the roll out.
This brings us to the current new tax implementation, the Gillard Govt's carbon tax. For years, the science of global warming has been widely debated, and still, scientists are split on whether or not humans are responsible for climate change.
Professor David Archibald, a prominent climate scientist and former scientist at CSIRO has told Fine Line, that "humans are not responsible for climate change, but nature herself". He said, that in the life time of our planet Earth, millions of years from now, the percentage of carbon emissions contributed from human activity in its current form will be less than one fraction of one percent, or zero of one percent.
Predictions of rising tides, record high temps, and catastrophic weather, are just some of the things the govt. appointed chief climate change scientist- Professor Tim Flannery, is saying will happen. Now what strikes me as peculiar, is Tim Flannery, David Archibald, and scientists at the CSIRO, have all seen the same scientific evidence and data, and yet the govt. seem defiant on accepting the findings of the scientific data.
Now we all know what happened after the last federal general election back in 2010, after the ALP forged a relationship with the Greens to form govt! That's right! Julia Gillard told us she was going to introduce a carbon tax that she previously said she wasn't going to introduce under a govt. that she leads. Well arguably, Ms. Gillard doesn't lead this govt, and certainly not in the polls. The latest news poll figures suggest a total labor whitewash in QLD, due to the backlash of the carbon tax.
Most of the mining jobs that have been sacrificed for cheaper offshore labour and operations, were from QLD. Treasurer Wayne Swan and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would be erased from political office, if an election were to be held this weekend. Tens of thousands of jobs have already been lost due to high Australian dollar for exporters, affects of GFC and Euro on ASX, rising costs > unsustainability. Tens of thousands of more jobs are expected to be lost or scaled down as a result of surging power and fuel costs not only from inflation, but a direct result of a carbon tax.
As I said in my intro. Taxes are relevant, and they're a part of life, so we have to live with it. That is part true. Like you, I am happy to part with my hard earned money with the knowledge that it is going to be put back into society responsibly, and that the tax was warranted in the first place.
Not so with this tax. Kevin Rudd came to power with $26b in the bank, which his govt. inherited from John Howard and Peter Costello. While the mining boom helped finance the final term of Howard/Costello, a lot more has been contributed by the mining sector since then, and not a lot is being injected back into the economy now, and that is part due to the fact that Rudd and Gillard have squandered the $26b surplus, and borrow more than $133 million a day just on interest. That's $1billion every ten days just on interest. It's this great big black hole that has corrupted the govt. into record borrowing and spending, that has meant the govt. simply aren't generating enough revenue to meet their financial responsibilities and obligations. They (govt.) need this tax!
As a tax payer and a voter, I refuse to accept the science of global warming, (come climate change), and refuse to accept the financial obligation to pay for a tax, based on a lie, that is designed to destroy our economy, destroy our way of life, for the political agenda of a socialist govt, that has lost its way with the Australian people. I for one, do not appreciate being played for a fool, nor being patronised. Our fathers didn't die, fighting for the freedoms we take for granted today, to simply have them taken away out of selfishness.
The person I feel sorry for is the small business owner who has to decide whether to close his door or continue to absorb rising costs for an inevitable closure. Or there's the farmer who has to decide whether to down size or rip the crop out of the ground, due to rising costs, he can't compete with other countries who don't have a carbon tax.
You see, it doesn't end there. It's one thing to wreck our place of employ, our livelihood, our food, our fuel.... Then when we get home, we're faced with the realisation of higher electricity bills, gas bills etc. Suddenly, we are with less money than before. Do I go out? I can see it now. Record number of rock bands performing "un-plugged" due to carbon tax. Silly you might say, and forgiven if you did say, but not as silly as the implementation of this ridiculous tax.
My plea to you the tax payer! Don't believe everything a politician, or scientist, or doctor, or whoever tells you, says! Get a second opinion, or third! My way of thinking, is to not only get another opinion, but to also do my own research, and draw my own conclusion.
For too long, too many Australian's have been too busy, too tired, too lazy or too trusting to fully understand or comprehend an important legislative change such as this one. What this country lacks is decent leadership. Without leadership, we all might as well be a herd of sheep.
