Yeah, right.

Before the last election we had a $22Billion surplus and you said ad nauseam “we are fiscal conservatives.”

Then came the $900 and $1000 handouts to everyone but the low-income battlers, of which most went to China.

Then came the multi-$billion free-for-all known as the “Stimulus Package”, of which most went to China again.

Followed by a just as sizeable, if not bigger, handout to fix the fuck-ups in the insulation and school scams, not to mention the deaths no-one wants to be responsible for.

And the cherry on top was going to be the multi-$billion ETS handout to the Fossil Industries for killing the planet and encouraging them to keep on doing it.

You, Mr Swan, and ‘our’ Air(hea)d must have gone to the same School of Economics.

I’m returning to TT as I can be assured my comments will be published. Over the last few weeks I’ve tried on a dozen occasions to comment on articles by Dennis Shanahan and Paul Kelly in the Australian newspaper to no avail. There may not be the same readership levels on TT but the Oz lost credibility as a serious broadsheet many years ago.

As Australia wavers within its democratic system, there is little real debate on the tax reform proposals of Ken Henry. Ken Henry was Treasury Secretary under John Howard and now, Kevin Rudd. He is the atypical, apolitical public servant.

If one reads the comments and opinion polls in the Murdoch press or listens to commentary on the shock jock radio stations then one could be excused for thinking the Liberal Party machine has mobilised. Even on TT there seems to be a flavour of invective rather than rational thought.

Make no mistake, Rudd is up against it. The Business Council of Australia wants tax reform but only as a shift of onus from the business community to the general public. The BCA made its position clear prior to the release of the Henry Review that it wanted GST as a part of tax reform - a specific exclusion by Rudd Labor.

In the meantime, a spokesman for the ATO stated 40% of the top 1300 companies in Australia operate at a (income) taxable loss. Which companies are these? Certainly one could reasonably assume a fair sprinkling of resource extraction giants and media conglomerates. Are these or their subsidiaries operating at taxable losses? Beware companies that spruik the amount of tax they pay as it often includes the tax withheld from their workers.

As I stated on another thread, if Tony Abbott and the Liberals attain government they will implement the reforms of the Henry Tax Review but without the Resource Tax. Payroll tax (estimated nationally at $29B several years ago) will be reduced or removed through an increase in GST. That’s $29B in GST out of your pocket and no visible return on investment except for shareholders.

The Australian editorials also called for the inclusion of the GST in the Henry Review. Why wouldn’t they?

People need to think beyond their next breakfast and not be part of the mob fed by the media.

Mark has got a good grasp of our tax problems. Did you see Ken Henry’s body language on the TV reports? Rudd and Swan treat him like he is a bit of wallpaper.
I think Rudd panicked when the GFC hit a blew all his ammo on propping-up a broken system. I waffle lyrically about it in my YouTube clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs83Bg07XKs

These government budgets are all about spending money that they intend to take from us by force.

Where is the help that we need to earn more so that we can afford these constant expenditures?

Where is the priority to help Australians to earn more?

Do governments only know how to spend but not to earn?

Heaven forbid that any one or any business should ever have to pay tax let alone a tax increase. Lets all follow Ms Hanson’s prescription simply print more money you know it makes sense, don’t you?

KRudd said that, after Swan’s budget was handed down, “We are just as committed to Climate Change now as we were before the last election.”

Well, that’s pretty obvious considering that again there wasn’t a single cent in it to tackle Climate Change.

I guess KRudd means exactly what he said, he is “committed to Climate Change.”