Disingenuous Taxation Proposal

Well I never! To think that a Government – in Australia, would or could take us all as idiots, is beyond belief. Hah!!

Now listen carefully:-

Assume, for the sake of argument that the Australian taxation revenue is $100 billion (it is much more I know, but that is not the point) as I say $100 billion. If the Federal Government’s plan is accepted, that Federal taxation would be reduced (slightly) and this shortfall in overall taxation would revert to the States and Territories to collect for their use, then a very straight forward scenario will unfold. No matter how this is sliced and diced between the Federal Government and the States and Territories the total tax revenue will still be $100 billion (or whatever the actual figure is). No more, no less. It cannot be otherwise UNLESS taxation is increased!

This is what the Federal Government is trying to do – to FORCE the States and Territories to increase taxes to meet their ever increasing need to fund health and education. The Federal Government can wash its hands, Judas fashion, and say with a straight face – we didn’t do anything to increase taxes!! Blame the States and Territories!

I just hope that our various State and Territory leaders will see through this trap and reject the proposal to change how taxes are collected.

Shall I hold my breath?

Injustice is the Problem.

Amended January 31, 2020

I am no soothsayer nor do I have special access to any particular research but I do, sincerely, believe that what follows is true and applies, and has applied, for all peoples for all times.

I ask the question - "isn't their just one species of human? Homo Sapiens? Isn't the fact that different languages are spoken; that people have different coloured skins; that people worship (presumably) the same God in different ways; isn't all this dependent of where they were born?" 

And another question - "did anyone have a choice about where they were born or who their parents were?"

Where there is prejudice; where there is discrimination based on the colour of a person skin; where there is great inequality in the distribution of wealth between the very rich and the very poor; where  access to good health facilities and health care is determined by the amount of money they spend; where there is a perception that how any individual worships God matters to others; where justice is denied; where the concept takes hold that “profit” has precedence over “people”; where access to high quality education is limited or non-existent; where there are limited or non-existent employment opportunities; where there is corruption or a perception that the wealthy can bend the rules and “get off lightly”, the prospect of social unrest will inevitably arise.

This is the root cause of the current problems in the USA, in Europe, in the Middle East in Brazil and other South American countries, and unfortunately – for future peace prospects – in China and Russia, though both are struggling to contain the unrest.

Australia, Canada and other so called “Western” countries are not immune!

I just hope that ideology will be set aside and that statesmanship and commonsense will prevail. Both of which I might add, are notably absent today!

I'm not going to hold my breath!

There is  a speech by Frederick Douglass (African American, a former slave, social reformer, orator and statesman) on the 24^th anniversary of emancipation, Washington, DC, 1886, which has great relevance today, and I quote:- 

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” (From “Spirit Level” by Wilkinson and Pickett)