If people want to send their kids to a private school indeed it is their choice.
If they didnt then the govt would have to build a shite load more schools to cope with it all.
So if the govt instead provides the same amount of funding, why not allow private schools to operate?
Why does the govt have to do it? Apart from fostering a unionised teaching staff, what benefit is there to the children, or the taxpayer, from public education vs private run education??
"an awful lot of transporting of goods and equipment to and from mine sites on public roads and trains"
All paid for with diesel fuel that has to pay the full rate of tax, because it's on the public road.
Now if your argument is simply that you want mining companies to be denied the rebate that is supposed to fund road maintenance and construction, even though they only claim the rebate for plant & equipment that never operated on a public road, then just say so. But to say it's a 'subsidy' or that it's costing the country money is just plain wrong. They country was never getting it in the first place. And if you're going to make the miners pay full tax on the fuel, there will be more marginal projects that will fall over, and the mining sector will contract even further. And more people will lose their jobs. If that's what you want, at least be honest in the arguement.
