18 April 2012

Canberrans the highest taxed in the country?

| johnboy
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The Liberals’ Brendan Smyth has swooped on new ABS stats like a seagull upon a chip to show we really are highly taxed:

Canberrans pay more in tax than anywhere else in the country, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released today. ACT Shadow Treasurer Brendan Smyth said this is a shocking burden placed on Canberrans by the highest taxing government in Territory history.

The ACT also recorded the greatest increase in taxation in the country, rising a whopping eight per cent for the 2010-11 financial year, against a national average increase of five per cent.

“Since ACT Labor was elected in 2001, the ACT’s taxes have increased by 90 per cent per capita,” Mr Smyth said today.

“Today’s figures show that based on local and state taxes, the ACT’s taxation per capita rose eight per cent in 2010-11 to $3,437 – the highest in the country. We are now taxed around 10 per cent higher than the national average.

The rest of the country, with its lower average incomes, might be hoping this is indeed the case.

But seriously, if we insist on replicating a State bureaucracy and parliament for a city of 300,000 what do we expect?

UPDATE 18/04/12 08:58: Andrew Barr has tweeted us to point out this year’s numbers include Rupert Murdoch’s back taxes:

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johnboy said :

Andrew Barr has tweeted us to point out the take last year included a big one off windfall when Rupert was forced to pay his back taxes.

Ok, so if you take that off we drop from first to fourth. What is more interesting is that these figures do not include royalties so we’re not really comparing like-with-like. WA collects $2000 p.c and Qld $750 p.c in royalties each year. Imagine how low your rates would be if the ACT was getting royalty flows like that.

Chop71 said :

ACT Government demanded $84Mil and got $77.5Mil, seems he still got a good deal

And if he’d just paid the tax due upfront without trying it on it would have been $53 million–doesn’t sound like such a good deal now does it?

johnboy said :

Andrew Barr has tweeted us to point out the take last year included a big one off windfall when Rupert was forced to pay his back taxes.

ACT Government demanded $84Mil and got $77.5Mil, seems he still got a good deal

HenryBG said :

We don’t want a “government” with its army of policy advisors, human rights commissioners, ideological crusaders against this and for that, and sundry other parasites like the pricks who run our pseudo-privatised water monopoly.

All we want a local council that will take care of roads, garbage, libraries, water and sewerage and will show a bit of willy in getting crims off the streets.

Instead, we have what we have.

HenryBG if it’s ok with you, I wouldn’t mind some health, police and education in there at some point too (which are provided by State and Territory governments).

Andrew Barr has tweeted us to point out the take last year included a big one off windfall when Rupert was forced to pay his back taxes.

Spectra said :

“Since ACT Labor was elected in 2001, the ACT’s taxes have increased by 90 per cent per capita,” Mr Smyth said today.

Without some context of how much incomes have increased by in the same period, that is a deliberately misleading statistic. (In a political press release! I’m shocked!).

I’m going to take a guess and say that our average wages haven’t increased proportional to our taxes.

HenryBG said :

But seriously, if we insist on replicating a State bureaucracy and parliament for a city of 300,000 what do we expect?

Yeas, but we *don’t* insist on it.

We voted *against* self-government in the referendum, but got it foisted on us anyway. We then voted against the Lib/Lab scroungers who barely managed to get 9 out of 17 seat between them.
Since then, people have forgotten we didn’t want it, and who was responsible, and have been rewarding these idiots with their vote.

We don’t want a “government” with its army of policy advisors, human rights commissioners, ideological crusaders against this and for that, and sundry other parasites like the pricks who run our pseudo-privatised water monopoly.

All we want a local council that will take care of roads, garbage, libraries, water and sewerage and will show a bit of willy in getting crims off the streets.

Instead, we have what we have.

For the second time in a week I find myself agreeing with you.
My counselling starts tomorrow.

HenryBG said :

All we want a local council that will take care of roads, garbage, libraries, water and sewerage and will show a bit of willy in getting crims off the streets.

Nail on the head.

In case people aren’t following the discussion, the numbers are here: http://tinyurl.com/7ajr9rn

So what we need is a new political party which, if it wins enough seats to form a government, will abolish self government and the Australian Capital Territory so we become part of NSW. Couldn’t be that bad could it?

BTW anyone know how much Zed and his cabbages and Katie and her cretins and the Greens circus and all their advisors and DLAs actually cost the ACT taxpayer? I bet it’s a lot.

HenryBG said :

We don’t want a “government” with its army of policy advisors, human rights commissioners, ideological crusaders against this and for that, and sundry other parasites like the pricks who run our pseudo-privatised water monopoly.

Forgetting Fabian Socialist Timor Leste fetishists.

But seriously, if we insist on replicating a State bureaucracy and parliament for a city of 300,000 what do we expect?

Yeas, but we *don’t* insist on it.

We voted *against* self-government in the referendum, but got it foisted on us anyway. We then voted against the Lib/Lab scroungers who barely managed to get 9 out of 17 seat between them.
Since then, people have forgotten we didn’t want it, and who was responsible, and have been rewarding these idiots with their vote.

We don’t want a “government” with its army of policy advisors, human rights commissioners, ideological crusaders against this and for that, and sundry other parasites like the pricks who run our pseudo-privatised water monopoly.

All we want a local council that will take care of roads, garbage, libraries, water and sewerage and will show a bit of willy in getting crims off the streets.

Instead, we have what we have.

“Since ACT Labor was elected in 2001, the ACT’s taxes have increased by 90 per cent per capita,” Mr Smyth said today.

Without some context of how much incomes have increased by in the same period, that is a deliberately misleading statistic. (In a political press release! I’m shocked!).

Yes, we win by $3! Suck that WA.

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