stupid tax decisions that hurt us lt

Bank of America economist Saul Eslake said on Tuesday. ''I have to translate the words 'negative gearing' to people overseas because it just sounds crazy to have a system that rewards people for losing money.

"Removing it would be close to the top of my agenda. I have a list of what I regard as the worst tax decisions of the last 20 years. One is the halving of the headline rate of capital gains tax [in 1999] that made negative gearing attractive.

"The others are the abandonment of indexation of petrol excise, the Senior Australian Tax Offset - the measure that says if you are over 65 you pay less tax on a given amount of income than if you are under 65 - and the abolition of income tax on super fund earnings paid to people over 60.

"They would be my contenders for the dumbest tax decisions of the last 20 years. Frankly, I can't choose between them."

Comment:
I have to agree on the negative gearing policy. It has distorted housing prices to such an extent that people are financially crippling themselves to be able to afford their own house. This has had a shocking knock-on effect on retail and other discretionary spending.

I can't see why superannuation is so protected from tax. Especially at the high end.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/negative-gearing-losses-a-key-drain-on-revenues-20130430-2ir6h.html#ixzz2Rwvr0fvi