News
Biannual 100% Clothing/Shoes/Bags Tax
Just an idea to help curb the massive waste of fast fashion.
Every second calendar year, place a 100% sales tax on clothing, shoes and bags. This will force people to consider if they will be using an item beyond 12 months, and if it will last that long.
When fashion changes every week, that is bad for the planet. Clothing has never been cheaper. In my childhood, quality and longevity were the #1 priorities, not cheapness or fashion. Brands became established because of quality. That is how it should work…
Superannuation Gender Gap in Australia
We are all for gender equality, but unfortunately some/most politicians are unwilling to argue against what on the surface seems like an issue:
On average, women currently retire with $90,000 less than men.
https://www.industrysuper.com/campaigns/closing-the-gender-superannuation-gap/
We don’t dispute that figure, but it can be misleading, in three significant ways:
- If the woman is in a relationship upon retirement, then they would typically share their super with their partner, to live on
- Women typically live longer, and will typically inherit their partner’s super
- When divorce is negotiated, super is typically a factor in deciding who gets what – they don’t get their partner’s super, but rather something else like cash or property
For women who have not been in lasting relationships, where they cannot access the super of their partners, that is a different story. Those without children presumably have less super disadvantages (less reason to not work full time), and those with children would be in the worst position of all.
If we wish to increase the living standards of solo mothers, before or after retirement age, that is a probably best discussed in an holistic way, rather than just looking at super.
Our Unique Policies
Major political parties in Australia are avoiding many issues, and lack imagination and foresight. We are the only political party (fantasy or otherwise) to have these policies:
- Rewarding job-seekers for their successes, rather than punishing them for their failings
- Permanent political promises – no ifs, buts or reversals (populist)
- More of a peace-keeping, militia and specialist military model, with fewer full-time soldiers
- Non-binding, electronic referendums where suitable
- Publicly owned utilities – and a bank (populist)
- Decreasing the use of antibiotics
- Living wage for artists
- 5 year rent contracts (and no more negative gearing)
- Ending phone spam (populist)
- Free home insurance (populist)
- Capped CGT exemptions on residences (populist)
- 4 day work week
- A royal commission on the treatment and place of kangaroos, our national icon
As a futurist, I acknowledge that my ideas might be ahead of their time. I would expect that many of these will become reality one day, but it might take a while. But some are hard to argue against and would have popular appeal with many having little costs involved to implement (even a publicly-owned bank would be profitable).
Actual Corporate Tax Rates
An OECD claim that Australia has the world’s third highest effective marginal corporate tax rate made a great headline and pleased the federal government no end.
Problem is, the OECD didn’t take into account franking credits.
Problem is, we have a government who knows this, but plays dumb. And nobody is calling them out on it. Not the opposition, not the media.
Professor Kevin Davis, research director at the Monash Business School’s Australian Centre for Financial Studies, reckons the “real” corporate tax rate in Australia is below 20 per cent. He has written the headline rate could be cut from 30 per cent to just over 15 by abolishing dividend imputation.
Source: The New Daily
Donation Idea
Registered members only, get access to nice merchandise that actually looks great and subtle (as in clothing). Plus, members only beer, ordered online. Beer can be outsourced and rebranded.
Britain and Our Policies
Obviously Britain and Australia are different countries, but many political changes have occurred in parallel – for example privatisation.
So it is heartening that the following was observed from a landmark study of public opinion:
- Favour public ownership of the water (83%), electricity (77%), gas (77%), railway (76%) and bank (50%) sectors
- Favour wage caps for CEOs
- Government needs to do more to regulate how businesses behave
- Hold an unfavourable view of ‘capitalism’ as a concept, viewing it as ‘greedy’, ‘selfish’ and ‘corrupt’