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Showing posts from May, 2018

In the battle of the tax cuts Bill Shorten is doing well

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Bill Shorten outbids Turnbull's tax cut for lower and middle income earners Shorten pledged to give bigger income tax cuts for 10 million taxpayers. Lukas Coch/AAP Michelle Grattan , University of Canberra Opposition leader Bill Shorten has launched a tax bidding war, promising to top the government’s tax relief for lower and middle income earners, as he prepares to fight a string of byelections in Labor seats. The Labor alternative almost doubles the budget’s relief for these taxpayers, incorporating the early part of the government’s plan and then building on it. Delivering his budget reply in Parliament on Thursday night, Shorten pledged to give bigger income tax cuts for 10 million taxpayers. Some four million would get A$398 a year more than the $530 under the government’s plan. Labor’s “Working Australians Tax Refund”, would cost $5.8 billion more than the government’s plan over the forward estimates. Labor’s alternative comes as debate intensifies abou

The Coalition budget - there yesterday, gone today

Under Labor you will pay less in tax because I think that you are more important than multinationals, big banks and big business.           -Bill Shorten in his budget reply speech  It is more than 50 times I have been in Canberra and commentated on a federal budget in one form or another. I cannot remember another occasion where the impact of a government's plans has lasted for so short a time. The front pages of the papers this morning told the story. Barely a mention of goodies for the public bar a couple of minor references in the Sydney Daily Telegraph  and The Australian. Tonight Labor's Bill Shorten put budget matters back into the discussion but not in a way that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would like. That conservative commentator Andrew Bolt got it right. SHORTEN BLOWS LIBS' TAX CUT OUT OF WATER #auspol https://t.co/DFCoyZ3a93 — Andrew Bolt (@Bolt_RSS) May 10, 2018

The budget - Helping the rich get richer

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Most of the benefits from the budget tax cuts will help the rich get richer Chris Samuel/Flickr , CC BY-SA Robert Tanton , University of Canberra and Jinjing Li , University of Canberra In the federal budget, Treasurer Scott Morrison promised tax cuts to all working Australians in the form of an offset and changes to tax income thresholds. But our analysis of Treasury data shows that while the government advertised these as payments to low and middle income Australians, most of the benefits would flow through to high income earners in future years. If all of the stages of the tax plan passed parliament, there would be a sharp increase in benefits for people earning above A$180,000, due to the reduction of their marginal tax rate from 45% to 32.5%. Taxes in most countries are progressive. This means that the more you earn, the higher your marginal rate (the additional amount you pay for each dollar earned). There are good reasons for this - progressive tax syste

Punters not flocking in to follow the Peta Credlin tip

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No change this morning at Sportsbet.

The media should ignore all budget events expected to occur further out than a year.

More The Owl finds it hard to take seriously all those predictions and projections about what will happen in two, three, five or even 10 years because of this budget. The one thing for certain is that most of the outcomes will be very different to what the budget documents say. The media would do its customers a favour by ignoring all events expected to occur further than a year away. See t he Never Never land singalong .

Wendy and Peter give a singalong version of the federal Australian budget

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WENDY: Peter where do you live PETER PAN: It's a secret place. WENDY: Please, tell me! PETER PAN: Would you believe me if I told you? WENDY: I promise. PETER PAN: For sure. WENDY: For sure! PETER PAN: I have a place where dreams are born, And time is never planned. It's not on any chart, You must find it with your heart. Never Never Land. It might be miles beyond the moon, Or right there where you stand. Just keep an open mind, And then suddenly you'll find Never Never Land. You'll have a treasure if you stay there, More precious far than gold. For once you have found your way there, You can never, never grow old. And that's my home where dreams are born, And time is never planned. Just think of lovely things. And your heart will fly on wings, Forever in Never Never Land. You'll have a treasure if you stay there, More precious far than gold. For once you have found y

The steady and substantial decline in the average hours worked every month

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When the Australian Bureau of Statistics started collecting the figures back in 1979 the average worker was working 153 hours a month. The latest ABS figures for March this year show that the average has dropped 139 hours a month. That 9% fall in hours worked is one reason why the employment growth the government will no doubt congratulate itself on in Tuesday night's budget is not resulting in much wages growth.

A Tasmanian devil does a double cross to turn the Liberal Party into a minority government so that deserves a song

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Singalong to "Road to Nowhere" with the bankster spokesperson Anna Bligh

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Anna Bligh told Leigh Sales on 7.30 tonight that Commonwealth Bank customers should now be pleased to clutch the APRA report into their bank as a roadmap. The Owl thinks this makes Talking Heads the appropriate commentators.