The economy: More taxation puts onus on using money wisely

Credit:Cathy Wilcox

Clem Sturmfels rightly recognises the need for funds to support social services and climate action and very nobly offers to be taxed more (“Tax me more, please”, Letters, 5/9). I would do the same if I thought governments would use my money wisely. But in the 2021-22 financial year, Australian governments provided $11.6 billion to subsidise fossil fuels. Further, foreign-owned fossil fuel companies like Australia-Pacific LNG, Chevron and ExxonMobil did not pay a single dollar in income tax between 2014 and 2020. Thus, funding should not need to come from our hard-earned salaries, but rather from those corporations that are profiting from polluting our atmosphere. Governments need to be held accountable for allowing this gross injustice.
Amy Hiller, Kew

The opt-in solution to a tax cut
We are hearing much discussion about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s election promise not to “axe the tax cuts for the rich”. Here’s a novel solution; provide the tax cuts on an opt-in basis. This, like Daniel Andrews’ $250 energy payment, should involve an actual online application. The applicant could be required to not only disclose their financial circumstance but to also state their reasons for requesting a tax cut. Albanese could make a pledge to put the cost savings from those who forgo their tax cuts towards education or health. Declining the tax cuts may even give rise to a feeling of national pride.
This is a get-out-of-jail-free card for you, prime minister.
Tony Jecks, Ripponlea

Election rites and moral rights
A tax cut to some means a roof over their heads and food on the table. A tax cut to others isn’t even noticed until the accountant finalises their 2022 books in 2023-24 – and probably not even then. Those few inconsequential dollars for the top end of town can, if managed properly, finance life-changing programs for those with no control over their own outcomes. Ask yourself, prime minister, is the right thing to do to keep an election promise – or is it to do the right thing?
Gary Sayer, Warrnambool

The Reserve needs to let reality bite
So, the RBA doesn’t think the economy is slowing quickly enough? Get ready for a crash. Those of us on median and below wages are stressing. What disposable income I had is quickly drying up – and I haven’t had all of the four interest rate rises yet hit my mortgage. I will be cutting my spending. Cafes – you won’t have a staff shortage because I won’t be dining. Retailers – I will only be spending when absolutely necessary. No impulse buying for me. CBD businesses – I’m back to working in the office, but I will be bringing my lunch and going directly from the office to the train.
The RBA needs to pause. Let the existing rises catch up with reality. Then it can decide if further raises are required.
Aaron Lenzing, Carrum Downs

Truth is core to integrity
Richard Denniss’ promulgation (Comment, 3/9) that “the truth hurts” – which is why Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is going to struggle to deliver the tough news to Australians (ie, the third-tranche tax cuts disproportionately advantage men who are high-income earners) – is not absolute. Because ″⁣how the truth″⁣ is delivered is more important. In other words, it’s all in the delivery.
Indeed, if Albanese can openly, honestly and transparently explain to people that the economy is radically different to when the Labor government was in opposition and that it’s a fiscally reckless (ie, not responsible) thing to do (ie, deliver stage-three tax cuts), he will earn our trust.
The truth doesn’t mind being interrogated – as opposed to a lie – and if Albanese doesn’t have the gumption to deliver the hard truth to people then his integrity will be on the line.
John Fitzsimmons, Mornington

FORUM

Education priorities
Once again there is outrage at schoolchildren’s apparently falling literacy and numeracy rates, compared to other OECD countries (The Age, 5/9.) Perhaps the rates might improve if the Education Department spent more money and resources on ensuring smaller classrooms, paying teachers more and encouraging teachers – and schools – to co-operate instead of wasting money in setting up ″⁣barriers″⁣ such as NAPLAN, which only serve to pit schools and pupils against one another and do nothing to improve literacy or numeracy.
Dr Cheryl Day, Beaumaris

Needs a lesson
Matthew Guy cites Australia’s falling PISA scores as justification for changing the curriculum (5/9). If Guy had checked he would have found that the falling scores were mainly due to poor results at the bottom end, ie, our poorer schools. Australia, of course, addresses this problem by shovelling money towards the higher performing end, the already wealthy schools. I expect Guy to soon announce redistributing school funding based on need.
Dr Ross Hudson, Mount Martha

Irony abounds
Oh the irony. While the Victorian coalition ″⁣vows back to basics curriculum″⁣ and commits to remove ″⁣non-essential″⁣ social issues such as cyber safety and stranger danger from the classroom, we read of children as young as six years old uploading sexual content to the internet.
Parents are urged to ″⁣talk with your kids″⁣ but we know that many parents either won’t or can’t. That’s why schools and teachers have to act in ″⁣loco parentis″⁣, in the place of parents, at all times.
Associate Professor
Dr David Zyngier,
School of Education, Southern Cross University

It didn’t work
Why did the Victorian government choose Saturday morning to unexpectedly release a damning report on the triple-zero call agency’s disastrous performance? That’s easy, the timing attempted to ″⁣sink″⁣ the report in a weekend lull and minimise media reporting of its tragic conclusions. Fortunately the tactic didn’t work, with extensive coverage in The Sunday Age and The Age yesterday. If anything, the attempted cover-up served to highlight the seriousness of the triggering events. Moreover, spin doctors who come up with these sort of tricks, trash public perceptions of the honesty of the governments they are trying to shield.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills

Military madness
Never mind the capability gap with our submarines, do we even have enough soldiers to drive the staggering number of vehicles the army is amassing, let alone fill them up?
Mark Kennedy, Sebastopol

Art in pieces
It’s a shame that Melbourne artist Peter Seaton felt compelled to remove the mural Peace Before Pieces. He did not endorse the Russian invasion and only wanted to highlight the futility of war.
Jane Desailly, Brunswick

Teaching’s ups and downs
In reference to Andrew Smith (Letters, 5/9), my late father taught in primary schools for 45 years and enjoyed it thoroughly. When he retired he said he missed his captive audience. In contrast, my late mother taught in an overcrowded Catholic school and one year had 60 students in grade 6. She loved teaching but found it a hard year.
Susan Munday, Bentleigh East

Ban this too
Deer hunting, especially with crossbows, is another cruel ″⁣sport″⁣ that should be banned (Letters, 5/9).
As with duck hunting, it’s an unfair contest, with scents and decoys used to trick and lure the unsuspecting victims. If a kangaroo was shot with a crossbow it would be labelled a sickening act of animal cruelty and the perpetrator would be charged. Yet when a gentle deer is wantonly subjected to this agony it is labelled ″⁣recreation″⁣.
Deer who are shot by bow hunters but succeed in escaping – up to 48 per cent, according to the RSPCA – suffer unimaginably with arrows embedded in their faces, necks and other body parts. It’s disgraceful that the government sanctions this animal torture.
Jennifer Moxham, Monbulk

Hypocrisy at large
Is it right that my food choice should attract such vicious condemnation as occurred in the letters pages yesterday? The vast majority of people eat factory farmed chicken and/or eggs (an industry that kills more than half of day-old chicks as ″⁣waste″⁣, by grinding them while alive and conscious). How is that OK – out of sight and mind, the dirty work outsourced – but l’m hated for involving myself in sustainably making food of birds whose lives were lived in total wild freedom? Surely that’s far preferable to the short and miserable life of the factory chook. In a state where 95 per cent of households eat fish and more than 1 million people each year go recreational hunting for fish (″⁣fishing″⁣), why is it somehow scandalous to also hunt birds?
The hypocrisy is absolutely astounding. I really wish people would try apply a bit of reasoning before plunging into full-blown cultural hatred.
Russell Edwards, Kilmore

Ducks and chooks
I certainly wouldn’t want to go out and shoot at ducks. But I would acknowledge that I might buy one already murdered and ready to go. I don’t like to elevate the value of the life of the duck while we are all still gobbling chicken.
Carol Oliver, Carlton

Finding the human
As a Boomer I can understand that next generations complain about us as always seeing the past in rose-coloured glasses. But in the
’80s, ’90s and even the early 2000s, if you wanted to make or change a booking, check a problem, or find out about an incorrect charge you could call and speak to someone.
Now it’s always “your call is important to us”, ″⁣you are number 10 in the queue”. Or the newish option, “if you value your time press 1 and we’ll call you back”. Sounds good but they seem never to call back.
Now if you want to speak to a big company in relation to telephone, airline, government service, bank or Centrelink it’s just bad luck, they don’t want to speak to you. Their argument is, I guess, that we can’t afford real customer service because it’s too expensive. Banks are closing branches and it can take five hours on a phone to an airline (one that we should love) to rebook a credit. It’s no wonder that all services warn you that if you get angry ″⁣it’s unacceptable” and you’ll be shown the door. People are angry.
It’s so wonderful to call a smaller organisation and have a human answer who can negotiate and solve a problem, oh god I love them.
Please, let’s return to a kinder, more empathetic world with real customer service.
Bill Thomson, Newport

Poor service
I recently received an email from Jetstar stating that it had renewed a club membership and had charged me $55 on my credit card. I let the membership lapse over a year ago. I did not seek to renew it, I was not asked if I wanted to renew it.
The email also informed me that I could opt out to receive emails and cancel the membership, however I would not receive a refund. It is outrageous and unethical that I was not consulted and my details from a flight I took to the Gold Coast in August were used to take money under false pretences.
Diane Johnstone, Frankston

Signs for the times please
Walking from Flinders Street Station to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, I was in despair at the lack of signage directing me to the event I was attending. When I finally found a reception desk I was advised they received endless complaints about the difficulty visitors had in finding their way around. The director of the event I attended told me they were not permitted to have signage, as there were numerous events being co-ordinated at any time.
The Convention and Exhibition Centre is a wonderful facility which comprises a number of different buildings, linked by cavernous indoor spaces and outdoor walkways and courtyards, however none of these appear to have a name. If each of the buildings, spaces and thoroughfares were to be given a proper name then a more detailed floor plan could be provided to visitors.
Each of the theatres and spaces in the Arts Centre Melbourne has a name, perhaps the Convention Centre, similarly, could do the same.
Felicity Browne, Toorak

Migration queries
Migration numbers are to be raised by more than 10 per cent according to the Victorian government. But has the parlous state of the housing market been factored in? Do we not have sufficient people here in Australia to fill the gaps of the workforce through training and upskilling?
Frances Damon, Tooradin

Relevance deprivation
Listening and watching Peter Dutton, Michaelia Cash and Sussan Ley (″⁣I refuse to share a room with union thugs″⁣) one realises how irrelevant the Liberals are, especially as most participants acknowledged the worth of last week’s summit. These three politicians had years to address many of the challenges that face Australia now and they did so little when they had the opportunity. At least the National Party leader, David Littleproud, did not seem threatened by sharing a room with ″⁣union thugs″⁣, for once maybe the Liberals can learn something from the Nationals.
Judith Morrison, Nunawading

Pot, kettle, black
Donald Trump claimed the raid by the FBI on his Mar-a-Lago home was ″⁣one of the most shocking abuses of power in American history″⁣, not unlike his four years as president.
Greg Bardin, Altona North

AND ANOTHER THING

Duck shooting
So Daniel Andrews, the choice is between shooting wildlife or wandering around trying to whack a little white ball into a tiny hole? I choose neither.
John Bye, Elwood

If people (mainly men) want to shoot, why don’t they go to the shooting range? The barbarity of shooting living creatures is beyond deplorable.
Helena Kilingerova, Vermont

Sport
The four AFL finals at the weekend produced winners from four states. Suggests the game has some appeal around the country.
Brian Kidd, Mt Waverley

The Cats made one mistake in the last minute of play. They should have kicked a point instead of a goal to make the margin one point instead of six points. It feels better that way.
Alan Inchley, Frankston

Serena has left the arena. It will never be quite the same.
Tris Raouf, Hadfield

.. and if you’re down at the beach in September, you’ll hear the MCG (Letters, 5/9). No Tigers this year, though.
Jenifer Nicholls, Armadale

Furthermore
I’m with Clem Sturmfels (Letters, 5/9). Comprehensive tax reform is drastically needed to improve and sustain quality public services and rescue our debt and deficit problems.
Kevin Burke, Mooloolaba

The uploading of explicit material to the internet by children is rising, yet the state opposition wants to wind back cyber-safety and stranger-danger education.
Peter Baddeley, Portland

Maybe it would be quicker if we just dialled 999 (British emergency number).
Myra Fisher, Brighton East

And then there’s baristas who will irritably serve an “extra hot″⁣ latte after a lecture on the right temperature for making coffee is stubbornly rejected by an ageing customer raised on “piping hot″⁣ soup and milk drinks.
Des Files, Brunswick

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