It's not the amount I disagree with. It is the proportion and then how that proportion is spent by the people I give it to.

The resource super profits tax was a missed opportunity. Muppets that oppose it just don't get it. The money had to come from somewhere. The choices were:
1) Miners
2) Individuals

Well, the miners scared everyone with BS stories. So guess where the money ended up coming from?

Paying proportionally more tax this year than I did last year. I mean, WTF?

The middle class are the ones who always get squeezed....because they earn just enough that they can't complain
 
Enjoy your returns. I owe the taxman some seriously dollars from 09-10. Hurts like a *******, but I am glad I put the money aside for this day.

I had some ridiculously good, but unpredictable capital gains from the US stock market. Sold a bunch out in 2010 to reallocate assets into property and protect from a double-dip in the stock market. Turns out I took the wrong side of that bet and the tax man gets half.

Making money, but getting very,very jaded about our nanny state, high-income-tax system that unfairly punishes those that are succeeding financially. I must be honest, the high tax does temper my enthusiasm for hard work a little. HALF!

On the upside, I am making good money and it strongly motivates me to make the most of every last rule there is available in the tax system. I used to dislike people like Kerry Packer, now I understand them.

You need to get structured so that you can at least control (to a degree;)) the amount of tax you pay.
 
You need to get structured so that you can at least control (to a degree;)) the amount of tax you pay.

Oh yeah, tell me about it. Could not agree more. Working as hard as I can on this one.

Damn but the system makes it tricky for us PAYG folks to do so.

Hybrid Trusts seemed to show some promise, but just when I was in a position to use one, the ATO went and made things very uncertain again.

Discretionary / Family Trusts just cost me more in the short term and slow things down.

There is a path through the forest. I am busy finding myself an experienced and honest pathfinder to show me the way. That, or cut down the forest. Whichever yields results first.
 
Oh yeah, tell me about it. Could not agree more. Working as hard as I can on this one.

Damn but the system makes it tricky for us PAYG folks to do so.

Hybrid Trusts seemed to show some promise, but just when I was in a position to use one, the ATO went and made things very uncertain again.

Discretionary / Family Trusts just cost me more in the short term and slow things down.

There is a path through the forest. I am busy finding myself an experienced and honest pathfinder to show me the way. That, or cut down the forest. Whichever yields results first.

Well the whole point of the tax system is to tax PAYG workers heavily so as to encourage small businesses with entrpreneurship...
 
Probabl stating the obvious here, but if you're relying on your tax return to keep your head above water, a major re-assessment might be needed, but I'm guessing I'm stating something you already know :)
 
It could be worse, Deltaberry: The entire population could decide to just cheat outright on their taxes for a couple of years and that way we could all join Greece in the ****hole.

I agree a heck of a lot of Australian tax money is unproductively spent, but the point is, it is spent, and circulates back into the economy one way or another. Even the ludicrous spending on shiny school canteens and fighter planes that never seem to leave the ground is money spent, and re-spent, and re-spent (ala the economists' wonderous 'multipier').

Of course, I'd much prefer if our tax dollar were more carefully spent and we could get a far better bang for our buck, but lower taxes aren't by default the solution. We still need defence, police, infrastructure, hospitals, schools and all the rest, and few would argue we need less of them.

The size and cost of government increased significantly under Reagan, Thatcher and Howard after all, alongside wonderful tax relief for the better-off, but you have got to ask now, to what end?

If simply cutting taxes alone were the answer, we'd only need bureaucrats to run the world (I mean, how simple is that?). But they can't. They'll just **** it all up against a wall, because they're simply not business people. And yet the world changes every day, we naturally don't trust bureaucrats precisely because they don't have anything but their salaries on the line, and so we elect the worst of all possible choices - professional politicians - to navigate this changing world for us. (I'd much prefer philosopher kings, but they've really been in seriously short supply since Napoleon got clobbered at Waterloo.)

So how clever do you think your preferred politicians really are? Cleverer than mine? I'm willing to bet none of them are really that clever at all, really. Certainly, not as clever as you expect them to be in eliminating all wasteful spending, successfully reducing taxes without social breakdown and yet raising the country to tip-top form. I'm not spouting leftist ideology here, Deltaberry, I just don't believe in any of it. But nor can I trust rightist ideology, which has proven so often unsuccessful too.

How about we dump the ideologies and start asking not who, but what, a good government really needs to do with every cent of our tax dollars?
 
How long are people waiting for ATO refunds to appear in their accounts? Last year took less than a week for me (October - not busy then I guess).. but this time it's over two weeks and still nothing..
 
How long are people waiting for ATO refunds to appear in their accounts? Last year took less than a week for me (October - not busy then I guess).. but this time it's over two weeks and still nothing..

last time I thought that I recieved a letter telling me that a cheque was in the mail cause I gave the ATO the wrong account details :p
 
Probabl stating the obvious here, but if you're relying on your tax return to keep your head above water, a major re-assessment might be needed, but I'm guessing I'm stating something you already know :)

Agreed. Certainly not relying on it to keep my head above water. I'm just having a whine about taxes. I know, it's an old tune, I just need to do it, get it out of system and move on. Almost there, I promise.

Thanks for being a soft shoulder to cry on folks. Not looking for sympathy, just a magic bullet
 
How about we dump the ideologies and start asking not who, but what, a good government really needs to do with every cent of our tax dollars?

I like it. Thanks for putting things in perspective and focussing on an outcome. I needed it.

My first question to prompt some strategy development;
What are the 5 best ways our money could be spent to dramatically boost innovation? (Super Mega Bonus points for ideas that keep that innovation producing tangible economic and/or social benefits for our country.)

To be honest, I don't know what the 5 best things are that are being done right now.
 
It could be worse, Deltaberry: The entire population could decide to just cheat outright on their taxes for a couple of years and that way we could all join Greece in the ****hole.

I agree a heck of a lot of Australian tax money is unproductively spent, but the point is, it is spent, and circulates back into the economy one way or another. Even the ludicrous spending on shiny school canteens and fighter planes that never seem to leave the ground is money spent, and re-spent, and re-spent (ala the economists' wonderous 'multipier').

Of course, I'd much prefer if our tax dollar were more carefully spent and we could get a far better bang for our buck, but lower taxes aren't by default the solution. We still need defence, police, infrastructure, hospitals, schools and all the rest, and few would argue we need less of them.

The size and cost of government increased significantly under Reagan, Thatcher and Howard after all, alongside wonderful tax relief for the better-off, but you have got to ask now, to what end?

If simply cutting taxes alone were the answer, we'd only need bureaucrats to run the world (I mean, how simple is that?). But they can't. They'll just **** it all up against a wall, because they're simply not business people. And yet the world changes every day, we naturally don't trust bureaucrats precisely because they don't have anything but their salaries on the line, and so we elect the worst of all possible choices - professional politicians - to navigate this changing world for us. (I'd much prefer philosopher kings, but they've really been in seriously short supply since Napoleon got clobbered at Waterloo.)

So how clever do you think your preferred politicians really are? Cleverer than mine? I'm willing to bet none of them are really that clever at all, really. Certainly, not as clever as you expect them to be in eliminating all wasteful spending, successfully reducing taxes without social breakdown and yet raising the country to tip-top form. I'm not spouting leftist ideology here, Deltaberry, I just don't believe in any of it. But nor can I trust rightist ideology, which has proven so often unsuccessful too.

How about we dump the ideologies and start asking not who, but what, a good government really needs to do with every cent of our tax dollars?

How clever are bureaucrats? The ones in this country probably aren't very, partly because of the dismal pay and opportunities.

Singapore is an interesting model.
 
I like it. Thanks for putting things in perspective and focussing on an outcome. I needed it.

My first question to prompt some strategy development;
What are the 5 best ways our money could be spent to dramatically boost innovation? (Super Mega Bonus points for ideas that keep that innovation producing tangible economic and/or social benefits for our country.)

To be honest, I don't know what the 5 best things are that are being done right now.

Okay! I'll start.

Idea No.1: Private sector research and development in this country is much lower than in most of our OECD counterparts. It needs to be seriously increased despite its inherent riskiness. How about public private partnerships in R&D with heavy tax breaks in return for proportional Commonwealth ownership of any tangible outcomes (i.e. patents, licences, etc)? Instead of tax breaks to the rich, how about tax investment in high-risk R&D?

Idea No.2: Let business have the bigger say they actually want on immigration policy, on condition that they subscribe to mandatory precommitments to training and long-term employment outcomes. Under the currently absurd visa rules, any Australian business must absolutely exhaust all local employment opportunities first and prove this beyond doubt with arduously documented in-house training and apprenticeship programmes that would break any but the largest corporations to implement. Reverse the onus of proof, but make sure that it doesn't cost the Commonwealth one cent in added bureaucratic costs or welfare payments. Bind companies into long-term contractual outsomes in return for ready access to immigrant labour, employing tax breaks to assit it but also link in compensation payments required for those such businesses fail to successfully integrate economically.

Any others?
 
Still waiting for hubby's pay summary from his work so that I can finish them ... they are taking an awful long time this year for some reason.

As long as I don't have to pay I am happy.
 
Bring it on !

eTax completed tonight, now waiting for my biggest return yet...

Felt like it took next to no time at all, well I didn't struggle with "where does this go" or have to ring the ATO like prefious years. Less than 2 hours..



I'm gonna go check my bank account, maybe its in there already :p
 
Bring it on !

eTax completed tonight, now waiting for my biggest return yet...

Felt like it took next to no time at all, well I didn't struggle with "where does this go" or have to ring the ATO like prefious years. Less than 2 hours..



I'm gonna go check my bank account, maybe its in there already :p

Exciting times hey!! How much do you think you'll get back? :)
 
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