Back to the thread- Couples can now work and get the first $250 free of tapering under the budget changes - see Kevin does not like "Idle Hands"



Solution pay us to do the work we now do for nothing and ask the lovely Kev to go borrow from someone like the super funds of the younger ones to pay a grant to meals on wheels and others for our services!!!



Or give us a decent rise.



His Choice - painted himself into a corner here I reckon.



Waited for you all to come up with that one - I beat everyone to it Ha Ha Ha - well time I had a win!



Now all you couples need to do is to write a letter to all and sundry - and local paper saying just that - and wait for the fall out.

the GST was accounted for with a supplement -



--

?? what supplement was that ? Was that the $1300 we got ? Which was spent on the GST in the 1st year or even less with the rise of 10% GST--when we should have been given a 10% rise

as has been said many times before, on here; ''There is none so blind etc''. I can't be bothered searching the exact figure of the permanent GST supplement, just to have it ignored, anyway, but from very vague memory, it was 4%. If my memory is wrong, you will know within minutes, because BigVal will jump on my head & give the correct figure.

More importantly, we are constantly whinging about the proportion of our pension which goes on food. Guess what!! There is no GST on food ingrediants, so why should we receive 10%?

There is no GST on most food--but there is on some--and there is always GST on bills etcof which the lousy $1300 when nowhere

Sorry PlanB! There is NO GST on any unprepared or non-precooked food. I would doubt that many pensioners would be able to spend more than 40% of their pension on basic food items, so we actually make a tiny profit on this particular tax. The real problem with the GST, is the sheer cost of administration, particularly after Paul Keating forced the issue to over complicate the tax, by not applying it to basic non-prepared foods. The actuall cost of administrating the tax, is nearly as much as they collect. All of these taxes are passed on to the consumer, so that, in effect, the $30B+ collected on behalf of the States costs, very near $30B to collect & administer, making the true cost of this particular tax, well over $60B. The thing that I blame Howard for, even more, is that, not only, is this the most inefficient tax ever dreampt up, by either Gov., but it has effectively taken so many out of the income producing workforce. Just think, for a moment beyond your personal pocket. What sort of idiot, brought in a system, where a business has to pay GST on all it's purchases, in order to employ an Accountant at $200+ P/H to claim it back? Especially when you are also paying the same accountant a similar amount to pay it in the first place. The whole principal of a free market system is to tax income to pay for the running of the system. BUT, in Australia, we have a system, whereby, over half the workers are either working for the Gov., or, Gov., instrumentalities as well as the myriad of accountants etc required to back the system. NONE of these workers are productive!!!

Sorry BigVal, there I go, off thread again

The GST is not that complicated and it certainly does not cost its all to administer. Enough. Billions are collected and distributed to the states. They were getting more and more and didnt abide by the promises they made to abolish the other taxes.



apart from that GST replaced Sales Tax which was 50% on some items. Now that was a rip off as on perfum and cosmetics the prices should have come down by the 40% less tax but did they? NO. Where was the ACCC - off having a visit to the Dentist to try to sharpen its teeth - operation unsuccessful.



UK and Europe has run similar system for many years and no complaints and why on earth would it cost so much with computers anyway - get real.



Biggest problem I have with it is that it is hidden, should be like the UK etc where every price is the price without tax and the tax is added on at the check out and most often shown on the ticket under the price.



We dont know if they are showing us the true price do we? Or how much the item is without tax as same item can very from store to store. Open to rorting.



Anyway back to GST supplement. Since 2000 the basic pension rate has included GST pension supplement - of single $19.50 and couples $16.30 each or $32.60 combined.



[b] Meaning you get $9.75 per week single and if you happen to be married and living with a spouse so not so hungry and wearing less clothes and using less of all life little necessities you get $8.15 GST supplement each. And have done since 2000 and up to date - for God's sake do stop bitching you didnt get anything extra under Howard - you did and the Utilities Allowance as well as more money by being tied to male average wage instead of the CPI[/b]

The GST is not that complicated and it certainly does not cost its all to administer. Enough. Billions are collected and distributed to the states. They were getting more and more and didnt abide by the promises they made to abolish the other taxes.



apart from that GST replaced Sales Tax which was 50% on some items. Now that was a rip off as on perfum and cosmetics the prices should have come down by the 40% less tax but did they? NO. Where was the ACCC - off having a visit to the Dentist to try to sharpen its teeth - operation unsuccessful.



UK and Europe has run similar system for many years and no complaints and why on earth would it cost so much with computers anyway - get real.



Biggest problem I have with it is that it is hidden, should be like the UK etc where every price is the price without tax and the tax is added on at the check out and most often shown on the ticket under the price.



We dont know if they are showing us the true price do we? Or how much the item is without tax as same item can very from store to store. Open to rorting.



Anyway back to GST supplement. Since 2000 the basic pension rate has included GST pension supplement - of single $19.50 and couples $16.30 each or $32.60 combined.



[b] Meaning you get $9.75 per week single and if you happen to be married and living with a spouse so not so hungry and wearing less clothes and using less of all life little necessities you get $8.15 GST supplement each. And have done since 2000 and up to date - for God's sake do stop bitching you didnt get anything extra under Howard - you did and the Utilities Allowance as well as more money by being tied to male average wage instead of the CPI[/b]



That is one of the most important posts ever to appear on this or any other forum, BigVal. Thanks for spelling it out in such a clear way.

With your permission, I'll copy it and send it to a few people.



The Libs both State and Federal, should be bringing this to peoples' attention at every opportunity .



Something I've tried to articulate also , as BigVal has, is, that while people are worrying about whether they get X $$$s extra for the pension, the State run utilities are steadily going up in cost, and the GST will pale into insignificance, whether a pensioner or not....

I agree totally with your last paragraph BigVal, BUT, if you think it is that simple, you have never owned or operated a small mixed business. Take a purchase of hot chips with a tomato sauce sachet together with the morning paper. Chips $3.30 incl GST of 30cents. Ketchup 20cents incl GST nil. Newspaper $1.00 incl GST of 9.09cents which is not applied to the BAS because of a tax arangement with publishers who charge the final GST figure in total to the wholesale account.. Yes, you can buy point of sale computer systems that cost around 7 to $8k + GST whick is refundable following the next BAS. You can add around $100 + GST, per month, refundable, for the programme maintenance. The little business, that I refer to, has a turnover of, say $10,000 per week, so you are looking at accountants cost of probably $4,000 P/A for preparing the BAS. You are going to say that anybody operating a small business, should be able to do their own BAS. Just remember, recently, we had an ongoing arguement as to whether the utilities allowance was extra or coming out of the marrieds pension therefore leaving a negative increase. Just, out of interest, send an email to the PR officer of Coles or Woollies & ask what the computer programming costs were for the implementation. On top of that, I believe it is costing Woolworths approximately $1,200,000 per annum just to maintain the programme.

One of the most intelligent Political Leaders ever, was virtually laughed out of an election, because he was bamboozled at the GST on the icing on a cooked cake. That simple little bit of mental arithmatic earned us Paul Keating.

You mention the possible rorts with the hidden system in Australia. What is the difference in a camera selling for $320 + GST of $32.00 at store A & the same camera selling for $330 + GST of $33.00 at store B? As against $352 incl GST at store A & $363 incl GST at store B.

What I find the most aggravating is a product like cigarettes, where a wholesale price is set, to which is added an Excise (tax) to which, is added a State Tax of 50% of the total, to which is added a profit margin to the shopkeeper, of around 15% and then added another 10% of the total, by way of GST. Tax on tax is banned under the Constitution, but a tax on a tax, on a tax is ridiculous. OR, while I am at it, what about the GST that is payable on the perfume that you might have bought in England?

Innes - You rambled on there a bit and I have had 30 working years of experience in owning/running small businesses.



With your bit on camera's I think you were trying illustrate the problems that come with having the GST included in the retail price which is what I pointed out to be completely wrong as prices of the same item do vary and the ACCC says report any rorts - how can you when the price is inclusive of the GST.



As for the GST on some foods and not on others - we can thank Meg Lees it is only on ready meals cakes biscuits soft drinks and ice cream etc - al basic foods which have to cooked to make a meal are free of it and that means any person who can cook can eat free of GST. The Howard government wanted on every single thing to make it easier they said which means of course the advice from the bureaucrats was that - never should have been put on the necessities of life!

Electricity Gas, Landline Rental, Bottled Gas, Wood for heating and over the counter medicines.

Hi All,

We look at the proposed pension increases and how they are eroded. It has always been the same.

Increase it e.g. 3% and immediately the water, gas, rates and electricity are likely to go up by the same or even more.

Even the banks despite their profits are looking at ways of squeezing more and giving less to their clients.

Many of those organisations argue greater increases, claiming the cost of administration is the reason.

The cost of administration has been lowered considerably under the Howard government with the use of part-time/casual labour or putting on "trainees" working on minimum wages etc.

It is so with the $30 increase. Government and the utility companies will find a way to get hold of the increases and you will find the pensioners are worse off.

I act as a volunteer community advocate. One of those unpaid volunteers working to help my community and see so much of the problems that are being ignored by government. One of my clients, a mother with three disabled children is losing her tax benefit as her youngest child turns six year old. She must register for work. This is a nonsense situation considering the shortage of jobs and the increasing unemployed. Where will she find a part time job between 8.30am and e.g. 4.00pm as she lives on the outskirts; relies on public transport, such as it is as she doesn't drive.

Her disabled children require attention around the clock. The government has taken away the parenting rights from those on lower income, especially pensions. If you are earning a high enough salary that one of you can stay at home and look after the children then you are lucky. Not so those on pensions. As far as I am concerned no child of six is capable of being unsupervised for periods of 12-14 hours as some are expected to do. These parents are forced to break the law in order to obey the directive of registering for work once a child turns six years.

Under Child Protection it is illegal to leave children of certain ages alone unsupervised or protected. What does the government use for an excuse to force people to break the Law? Many have to rely on Grandparents or neigbours to look after them. So it is not only we, the aged who are being victimised but also the families.

Certainly she will get some relief while they are at school but should there be an incident the school will ring her and ask her to come to school to quieten the child. As the 3 children suffer from the Austistic Spectrum conditions, she can be called at any time. What employer will be patient with having staff leaving work to attend their child. She has no family to support her in such a situation. Discrimination regardless of age, race or religion of physical or mental constraints is alive and getting strong and seems to be increasing in Australia. We used to be a country that believed in giving a person a fair go.

Sadly I see comments on blogs about that are selg centred, egoistic and downright vindictive or bullying against the less fortunate within our community. Battling families are told that they should not have children if they cannot look after them. This is the sort of comment coming from the "haves" against the "have nots".