What a lot of insulting ratbags. IMO, these political threads have defended onto personal slagging matches rather than a reasonable discussion on the thread heading which is "Looks likely Labor has lost its way"
Let me address the thread heading please:
Last Election Labor went to the polls with a tax plan to rectify some apparent middle class tax rorts namely: -negative gearing -franking credits
IMO these were two good programs to level the tax paying field so that all taxpayers were treated equally.
Re: Negative gearing: -Those on higher tax income brackets were/are getting a tax break that lower income PAYE taxpayers can't access -Negative gearing has increased property values by extra investor competition with first home buyers IMO, the 50% capital gains tax exemption should also be scrapped with a 30% death duties implemented.
These property tax adjustments would take the Government middle class pork barrelling out of the equation and in line with Liberal Party Neo-Liberal policies of a fair and level tax regime for all.
Franking Credits: Franking credits are mostly enjoyed by those with high Super balanced who in turn are the beneficiaries of Super tax concessions. Those who benefit most are likely to be middle class. IMO franking credits should be used only to offset tax paid in that year by a taxpayer, not a taxpayers gift to a middle class retiree who pays no tax.
Re: Death Duties:
Although Labor did not have death duties on its 2019 electoral policy menu in 2019 , it should have to complete the trifecta in closing the increasing wealth gap, IMO. The USA, UK, Ireland and many OECD countries have death duties ranging from 20% to 50%. We justified the GST in 2000 by saying that most OECD countries had it, so why not justify death duties in a similar fashion?
IMO the opinion leaders, the Middle class & the billionaires have undue influence on public opinion as evidenced via news media political bias and they call their hip poskets at election time rather than the long term interests and prosperity of Australia (no patriotism here when it comes to paying tax or foregoing tax perks...eh?)
So rather than abuse one another on these threads (by the way this kind of personal abuse on social media is actionable under our defamation laws so if you own a house and $1.6 mil of Super, look out...eh?.......... it's not only the Porters of this world who sue for defamation !) it is better to demonstrate that at least one has the ability to understand the topic if not add to in in a reasonable fashion.
Please consider our mountain of debt because as Aussies we all own it and the only way it can be paid down is via taxation because we have already lived beyond our means:
