A week is a long long time in politics. Last week looked like a quiet week in political circles until Treasurer Peter Costello strode forth mid-afternoon with his 400-page International Comparison of Australia's Taxes compiled under the gaze of business reps Dick Warburton and Peter Hendy. The press gallery scrambled to get the story of the day. Three minutes into Costello's address, Prime Minister John Howard sent out a press release, a three-liner saying he would be appearing today at the Cole inquiry into the oil-forfood scandal. Fatal distraction
As far as Peter Costello is concerned, Slovakia might be a nice place, but that doesn't mean Australia should copy its tax system. Releasing the international tax comparison report yesterday, the Treasurer played down any prospect of lowering Australia's 48.5per cent top personal tax rate to bring it into line with the 30 per cent corporate rate. Slovakian harmony jars with Treasurer
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: There's nothing fair in love and economy: How many bananas short of a republic?
Banana republic n. A small country that is economically dependent on a single export
The general consensus on globalization is that its benefits, great as they may be, are spread somewhat slowly and unevenly. Even the most passionate supporters of globalization concede that the transition to an open economy can be painful and that it should always be carefully managed.
The distribution of the fruits of globalization has much to do with the preexisting conditions of an economy, and of course, the first world once again has a significant advantage. For example, in societies that lack a transparent political process, a fair and efficient tax system, or a lagging education (among many other things), it is very possible that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Argentina, for instance, following some liberal economic reforms, saw a significant growth in employment thanks to the creation of "call centers." In order to be able to get such a job you have to be able to speak English fluently and be able to convince the person on the other end of the line that your name really is Buck and that you are based in Dallas. Needless to say, the poor need not apply.
• Young man from a marginal neighborhood Globalization of the criminal [Taxploitation edited by Peter Saunders: The system is riddled with distortions and disincentive effects. There are so many special allowances, exemptions, credits, offsets and write-offs that tax law has become almost indecipherable, and gross amounts of money and time get spent trying to reduce liability to tax. Rich in risk and reward: some good eggs among taxpayers although some are still rotten ; The Australian Financial Review --- Page:63. : 05-Apr-2006 Australia has a federalist system of government, set up under the constitution. The Australian Government, based in Canberra, deals with national issues, while the various state governments deal with schools, hospitals and similar services. Many critics argue that the Australian Government is starting to encroach on the states' territory. They call this "creeping centralism". One man's give is the other's take [A taxpayer-funded media war between the NSW and federal treasurers, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, is being waged ironically over our taxes. State Treasurer Michael Costa, who will hand down his first Budget on May 30, yesterday began hostilities with an ad campaign attacking Federal Treasurer Peter Costello over the GST payments. Prime Minister John Howard is quoted as saying it is pie in the sky to imagine that with complicated business arrangements that you can have a Tax Act that thin - Like life, it's not easy - Pie in the sky? More like mud in his eye. National accountants unite ; Australians paid $278.5 billion in tax to all levels of government in 2004-05. The ABS found that the amount of tax paid by Australians increased 8.3 per cent over 2003-04, or more than $21 billion. Never say accountancy is boring. A passionate debate between theorists and pragmatists is threatening to derail a long-running project to harmonise the two sets of accounting rules for financial reporting by federal and state governments Accounting debate divides profession Study seeks ideas on tax compliance costs submissions can be made direct to boardoftaxation@treasury.gov.au Setting the tax agenda ; Single girls tax seduction Accountants are picked up as # 1 target of single women in Australia ]
• · Everyone deplores the income-tax system, but nobody does anything about them. Understanding is the key to realising potential. The Guardians of Complexity ; A look at why big business is as responsible for higher taxes as Ted Kennedy ... Ebenezer Scrooge is a byword in popular culture for meanness both temporal and spiritual. Yet according to a revisionist literary historian, the Scottish merchant who was the inspiration for the Charles Dickens character, Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, was actually a generous and jovial man in 19th-century Edinburgh. Big business v. low taxes ; Money, Page 6 by Annette Sampson: It's not but along with the strategies in this week's cover story, changes to super have opened the door for more taxeffective life insurance for low income earners and non-working spouses. How to make life insurance tax-friendly ; Tanya Plibersek - It's strange tax system indeed that encourages traffic congestion and pollution and punishes the users of public transport. Our fringe benefits tax system does just that. The tax perk that gives cars a free ride ; It seems the OECD issued two quite different versions of its annual re-port on Taxing Wages last week. The version Peter Costello saw gave Aust-ralia a glowing rap, whereas the version seen by the Opposition and the media gave us a very ordinary mark. There's many a slip when politicians have 'tax' on their lips
• · · The Good - Vestas V90 3-megawatt wind turbines will be used for the first time in Italy First Allianz wind farm investment ; Explore the World of Allianz
• · · · The Bad Fiscal Apocalypse Now ; Enron and the fraud that changed everything
• · · · · Slavoj Zizek -In the last decade, Davos and Porto Alegre have emerged as the twin cities of globalization. The usual gang of suspects: Bill Gates and George Soros, the CEOs of Google, IBM, Intel, eBay, as well as court-philosophers like Thomas Friedman Another world is possible: The Liberal Communists of Porto Davos ; Fascism can be defeated by rational argument (that’s why fascists hate intellectuals), by genuine democracy (that’s why they despise civil libertarians), by legal principle (that’s why they criticise independent judges), and by international conventions (that’s why they fulminate about the United Nations). They claim they are defending our way of life, or our civilisation, even while they are undermining its fundamental principles. All civilisations have tried to raise people above fascism, but the fight has to be had over and over again A fascist Australia?
• · · · · · Insurance companies could face jail sentences and fines of up to $165,000 if they require customers to use preferred repairers, under a bill introduced to State Parliament by Member for Northern Tablelands Richard Torbay. Mr Torbay introduced the anti-steering bill into State Parliament on March 30, and said he had received strong support for the legislation from smash repairers across the State as well as industry groups like the Motor Traders Association. Torbay fights for drivers' right to choose repairers ; It is the greatest international scam in Australia's history. David Marr and Marian Wilkinson reveal the inside story on the wheat board kickbacks. Deceit by the truckload ; Each day this week we've been treated to another Dickensian tale from Australia's workplaces Amid apathy, a voice of sanity: What the Dickens will workers do?; Fear is probably the first human emotion that we experience and sadly, for some, if not many, it is also the last. Fear at work in the world