So ... how strong are our convictions?
The Australian Budget has been handed down, the squirrels have had time to do their diggings and the first advertisements have started turning up on our television screens. The wash out left me wondering how strong the convictions of our electorate?
Two payments stood out for me.
The first is attached to the Mining Tax Policies - the taxation imposed on mining companies to redistribute their 'super profits' (apparently). Titled the Benefits of the Boom Package, families entitled to the Family Tax Benefits Part A will receive:
(Yup I know about the dodgy formatting ... the table has thrown some setting and I can't for the life of me get it to work)
The second is a restructure of an education benefit available to families with school aged children. Titled School Kids Bonus it moves the payments to families out of the tax system where they needed to keep receipts for education expenses. Data was apparently showing that many were not claiming the money off their tax and those most in need of the money were not able to access the payments as they needed to be able to spend the money in the first place. Families with school aged children will receive;
Further more, parents who receive Parenting Payments can receive Supplementary Allowances of $210/yr for singles and $350/yr for couples paid in two instalments in March and September.
As someone who is not eligible for Family Tax Benefit Part A and thus not eligible for the 'Benefits of the Boom', the 'School Kids Bonus' nor the Supplementary Allowances and yet is also more Labor than Liberal in my political outlook (more socialist democracy than laissez faire really) I have two questions for all those who have enjoyed demonising our Labor Government as inept and dangerous.
If you disagree with the ALP and believe that the Mining Super Profits Tax should be abolished ... does this mean that you will hand back your 'Benefits of the Boom Package' when it turns up in your bank accounts on the basis that it is ill-gained income?
If you disagree with the ALP and their premise that wealth should be redistributed in the population to encourage equality, will you also hand back the automatic payment of your 'School Kids Bonus' insisting that you should continue to access it through the taxation system and refuse the offer of the Supplementary Allowance?
Somehow, I think your answer to both questions will be no. You'll accept the money, it may well be used by you to help offset power bills (yes ... those ones that have been rising for the past twelve months already without the help of the Carbon Tax), school books and excursions, and it may well also be used to make life just a little more comfortable. But, at no stage will you draw a cheque and send it back to the Government with a note saying, 'Thanks but no thanks, I can not support your policies as they are not good policies'.
So, a final question, how strong are your convictions? How strong is your conviction that our current minority Government is doing such a bad job that they should be thrown out of office and the very policies in place that fund the payments identified rolled back?
My thought ... your convictions are weak and gutless.
Two payments stood out for me.
The first is attached to the Mining Tax Policies - the taxation imposed on mining companies to redistribute their 'super profits' (apparently). Titled the Benefits of the Boom Package, families entitled to the Family Tax Benefits Part A will receive:
(Yup I know about the dodgy formatting ... the table has thrown some setting and I can't for the life of me get it to work)
The second is a restructure of an education benefit available to families with school aged children. Titled School Kids Bonus it moves the payments to families out of the tax system where they needed to keep receipts for education expenses. Data was apparently showing that many were not claiming the money off their tax and those most in need of the money were not able to access the payments as they needed to be able to spend the money in the first place. Families with school aged children will receive;
Further more, parents who receive Parenting Payments can receive Supplementary Allowances of $210/yr for singles and $350/yr for couples paid in two instalments in March and September.
As someone who is not eligible for Family Tax Benefit Part A and thus not eligible for the 'Benefits of the Boom', the 'School Kids Bonus' nor the Supplementary Allowances and yet is also more Labor than Liberal in my political outlook (more socialist democracy than laissez faire really) I have two questions for all those who have enjoyed demonising our Labor Government as inept and dangerous.
If you disagree with the ALP and believe that the Mining Super Profits Tax should be abolished ... does this mean that you will hand back your 'Benefits of the Boom Package' when it turns up in your bank accounts on the basis that it is ill-gained income?
If you disagree with the ALP and their premise that wealth should be redistributed in the population to encourage equality, will you also hand back the automatic payment of your 'School Kids Bonus' insisting that you should continue to access it through the taxation system and refuse the offer of the Supplementary Allowance?
Somehow, I think your answer to both questions will be no. You'll accept the money, it may well be used by you to help offset power bills (yes ... those ones that have been rising for the past twelve months already without the help of the Carbon Tax), school books and excursions, and it may well also be used to make life just a little more comfortable. But, at no stage will you draw a cheque and send it back to the Government with a note saying, 'Thanks but no thanks, I can not support your policies as they are not good policies'.
So, a final question, how strong are your convictions? How strong is your conviction that our current minority Government is doing such a bad job that they should be thrown out of office and the very policies in place that fund the payments identified rolled back?
My thought ... your convictions are weak and gutless.
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