Do we really need a tax "cut" war in the lead up to an election?

Why not just bank some of this extra economy goodness for a later day when it falls apart?

Neither side is actually doing anything meaningful for tax reform, handing out some offsets is just retarded (although I guess people will sway their vote on them).

Just the mind boggles.

-PB

My thoughts exactly but its so predictable. Pollies think promising people money will win them over. The reality is to give money for one cause its got to come from somewhere else.

Then again if I had a dollar for every time Old Billy Shorten talked about taxing Multinationals in his speech last night i'd be dead haha

I wouldn't look too closely into what happens of social media. Social media is an eco-chamber specifically designed to congregate groups /people with similar ideas together.

“Pollies think promising people promising money will win them over”

How do you think Labor win elections? They just throw bucket of money at people, aiming to please every cohort of the community whether is the old people, young people, single mothers, low and middle income families, students, unemployed, women, race minorites. Their whole MO is to divide people into specific groups and throw a shit ton of money at them in order to score their vote, while bleating on about fairness and equality to fan the flames and paranoia of imaginary class war. A minor cut or freeze by the government will be swarmed on as “AUSTERITY” or “RAZOR GANG” or “RIPPING THE HEARTS OUT OF VULERNABLE AUSTRALIANS” which will be echoed by news.com.au or SMH or first page material on ABC. Dont get me wrong, the Libs do it but at least there is some committment to balancing the books and maintianing economic stability. Labor on the hand will proudly take Australia deep into the red while boasting about all the legacies they acheived by maxing out the national credit card. Its the equivant of maxing out the amex on a shiny new car, luxury watch and suit and then claiming how successful you are.

It was interesting that Labor in their budget reply speech chose not to increase Newstart by $50 per week, because they already know they have the ‘dole bludger’ segment rusted onto the Labor vote , and the money save here could be better spent enticing uncertain voters elsewhere.

As for tax cuts, the tax cuts announced by both sides were totally pathetic. The deficit hasnt been clawed back by smart economic management, rather they (the Libs) have relied almost on entirely on bracket creep, mostly people on lower and middle incomes moving into higher tax brackets. The tax cuts proposed are just bandaids on a broken tax system which rewards unrestrained government spending (Labor) and surreptiously makes those on low and middle incomes pay for it through bracket creep.

yep agree.
I sure would prefer LNP managing things but they need to step up big time and bigger decisions made the soft C's......what do I expect with turnball.
Even though Labour steered or more so drove us down the debt path what baffles me is the LNP keep borrowing from offshore and mind you increased the debt to wherever billions now.
Why not borrow from within/bonds etc instead of offshore you pillocks.

They do issue bonds but I think it is cheaper and easier to borrow from overseas.

Yeah...or you're just a 'mac user' who only has a poor opinion of Labor because you're uneducated about Aussie politics

Just ask this genius:

You do realise that the previous government was internationally applauded for their spending during the GFC to minimise the impact on Australia's economy?? I agree they over extended a bit, but not all debt is "bad". Is a government better that offers personal tax cuts in an election years or a government that invests in vital infrastructure beyond their term in an election year?? Voters are started to see past self-interests in politics, slowly ... 

Ironically in WA the new Labor government is trying to cut back on spending after years of Liberal leadership ran the state budget into the ground.

Sokorny, State level is another matter and yes WA LNP have errored there but excuse me re Fed level on this subject.
It was a cock up how much went out during post GFC, applauded ? because of international blind scribes whereas most countries are broke and forever will be due the copious amounts in debt to never recover due to countless hurdles whilst we were in black and that idiot squandered so much to people who were not even on the planet for eg etcetcetc......
Sure its great being in debt as long as you got a handle of it ! that we don't.
Idiot Rudd followed by Juliar put us to the worst situation we have EVER been and worse this current idiot doesn't have the balls to cut things back for do you think were going to reduce the current debt ? anytime in the future ?
Throw in the State and local levels wastage imagine the nightmare and please spare me about voters seeing past self interest etc for sorry the average aussie voter is only interested whats in it for ME !
Your looking through rose coloured glass's mate but I admire your optimism.

You know things are bad when even the LNP shills on this forum are complaining.

Thanks for the insult not sure why I get it for I'm hardly in this part of the forum.
You can do better than insulting a fellow poster here being a mod.
Were all in the same melting pot....but I'm belittled expressing my pov.

Actually most of the conservative commentators these days spend more time on the liberal party neg-train than anything else. I expect it will continue until the Libs put Tony the Termite back in the big seat 3 months before the election like Labor did With Rudd. 

Wasn't actually referring to you.

Don't actually agree with anything you've written so far apart from Turnbull being spineless but you're entitled to your opinion (as are the shills).

Bring on the election.

The election is as predictable as the budget. ALP gets in, nothing changes. Shorten has made a lot of monetary promises he surely can't deliver without cutting the guts out of something else. That's probably the surprise for after the election.

If by some miracle the LNP keep power nothing changes and we retain this almost stagnant feeling about how our country is progressing. 

Once again we're going to have a government breaking promises and pulling people like Pauline Hanson up.

I'm so glad I've never voted LNP or ALP in my life. 

Just shows how narrow minded you are shill.

No he's more left wing than you which means he's just better than you.

lol, yer right, I'm mean left.
For the record in the perfect we all wish for a balance but this has never occurred for you can't please them all.....

You are aware that they have already announced 2 policies that give them a lot of wriggle room to fund things and "repair the budget" faster? Those 2 being the end of negative gearing on property and dividend imputation changes. You may agree or disagree with those policies but to say that "nothing changes" is far from the truth.

For the first time since I was a kid we actually have an opposition trying to make a serious point of difference between themselves and the government. They could definitely do more, like stop being pussies when it comes to national security but they're definitely a credible alternative government. I don't think Shorten is a charismatic personality (I'd prefer someone from the Labor Left like Albo) but he appears to be leading a united party and could be a very good PM.

:laugh: ok

Sorry incorrect wording, I meant to say nothing changes about Labor they do what they always do. 

They have made some significant committments outside schools and healthcare though. I can't say I disagree with amny of their policies tbh, extra funding to education and health is never a bad thing. $2.8bn for healthcare and $17bn for schools is awesome. I just hope it goes to the right places instead of being eaten up by 'administration and red tape'. TAFE needs a boost as we have a skills shortage so i think the policy has hit the mark. 100,000 new places at TAFE without fees is a great idea.  

I guess Shorten used 'multinationals' so many times during his reply that we know who's going to pay for his promises.....

I feel like the ALP budget is too good to be true. They have committed to bigger tax cuts for the working class, a faster return to surplus and major social contributions. Surely there is a catch in there somewhere?

:kiss:ok......

BETHFC, as you know when in opposition you quote the world on everything.
Its when your in the job thats you finally get to see the facts and figures and then you see what you can and cannot do.
Just as LNP getting in after ALP, the war chest was a mess and ends up visa versa so who's kidding who in the big picture but posters are good at pointing :Whistling:

Like I said, a balance would be perfect, some things combined from both major parties probably would do us all good But none have the balls to admit this and yet we also have some chills think they know it all.

They've been pretty upfront about the catches which is refreshing. I'm not sure where the issue is.

The reason you are not sure where the issue is because you are a committed Labor supporter and believe more in socialism than capitalism.

The issue with Labor is they believe it is up to the government to create the jobs and growth in the economy and that if it was left up to the Australian people, a small portion of the economy will benefit whilst the rest will suffer. Hence Labor's policy of additional taxes for those earning over $90,000 pa, additional taxes on people who have shares and additional taxes on investment properties and the kicker is that eventually we all start paying more taxes. Somehow making Australian's poorer will benefit the economy.

I don't buy it in the slightest.

If you attempt to look at it from the perspective of someone who believes that it is not the governments job to create jobs but rather to facilitate the conditions that will allow businesses to prosper you will understand where the issue is.

No I get that part and I understand the ideology of you and other "anti-Labor" posters in this thread. The question was "how are the Labor party going to pay for it? What's the catch?" and they've been pretty clear on how they plan to do that.

I guess that is ultimately the difference in opinion. "Left" leaning voters prefer governments to allow society to prosper ... China has provided great conditions to allow business to prosper, so has India, but how are the poorest in these countries faring??

Also if you let businesses run the show you end up with a situation like the USA ... everyone for themselves. I don't believe the majority of Australian's want such a self-centred society.

How are they going to do it? As in removing negative gearing?

-PB

That's a good question to ask. How are the poorest people in China and India doing today compared to 30, or 40 years ago? You can probably ask the same question in regards to the former Soviet countries and South Korea. Not dying as much and living a lot longer is the simple answer. There are still poor people but not the kind of poor where you have to leave school at the age of 10 to find a job or if you break your leg your family starves.
Korea is probably the best example as they have gone from being classed a developing nation to a developed nation towards the start of the 90's.

 

Looks like Pauline has scuttled the budget plans lol.

Then the AFP Commissioner can't explain what the penalty will be if you don't show ID at airports.

Or the juicey claims about the Chinese business man that was supposedly helping to bribe UN officials in the past.

-PB