Increasing The GST Hurts The Working Poor More
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In Australia they are talking about raising the flat consumption tax called the GST. Increasing the GST hurts the working poor more. After 4 years of a cost of living crisis due to high inflation, exacerbated by price gouging by big corporates, and the Reserve Bank steeply raising interest rates the experts think that the poor folk need another kicking. Who do you think copped it in the neck the most over this period? And prices on essentials have not come down, they are merely not rising by so much. Does the federal government really think that those hurting the most financially deserve another price hike on everything?
“A major Australian accounting body has floated the idea of increasing the GST, 25 years after the tax was first implemented.
CPA Australia said it would submit a five-point plan for “fundamental reform” to the GST ahead of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable later this year.
Prime Minister John Howard’s government introduced the goods and services tax on July 1, 2000 – 25 years ago this week.”
Raising The GST Will Kick Aussies Already Down
High interest rates reward the wealthy at the expense of the working poor. The housing crisis continues unabated in Australia with rents and homes unaffordable for many. Who do we have to thank for the insane high property prices? John Howard got that ball rolling with the increase to the capital gains tax discount. Who brought in the GST? John Howard. A flat consumption tax hurts poorer people because they have to spend more of their income on essentials than wealthier folk. Few working poor can afford to buy in bulk to save in this way unlike wealthier Australians. They purchase smaller amounts more often and thus pay more tax on each purchase via the GST. A Labor government cannot increase the GST when its citizens are already hurting. Nothing has got cheaper in more than 5 years and essentials like rent, food and energy have only gone up considerably. Increasing the GST hurts the working poor more.
Aussie Failure To Get Multinationals To Pay Tax Downunder
The failure of Australian governments to get the multinationals to pay their fair share of tax, despite promises that they would, is at the heart of the tax revenue shortage issue. Corporate greed has been at the heart of this problem for decades; and where does this come from? America, it the US and these American corporations that have made dodging billions in tax an art form. The loathsome Donald Trump is in their corner now too, which makes it harder for governments globally to take united action on this front. The digital service companies all shifted their support to Trump on this basis, which is why you should rethink your doing business with Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Meta (Facebook & Instagram) and the rest of them. These are no longer your friends, if they ever really were. Australians spend billions with these companies and they pay a laughable amount of tax here. They are ripping off Australia and our future. Big Tech sucks big time!
“We now know why the Big Tech oligarchs switched their allegiance to Donald Trump. It was all about the international effort to end Big American corporations not paying their fair share of tax in the countries they do business. Former US President Joe Biden had backed this initiative, as had Australia and Europe. Trump took the money from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Elon Musk and other tech giants backing his campaign and in return has bullied those nations who were attempting to get these corporations to pay their fair share of tax on the billions they generate around the world. The selfishness of these Americans knows no bounds.”
Rich Folk Want Poor Folk To Pay More GST
Therefore, this call for an increase to the GST by some economists and the wealthier establishment is the derisive alternative. Trump and the GOP have been lowering taxes at the top for some time. The Republican Party has been doing it since Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. It has come down from around 90% to 37% over the last 50 odd years. At the same time, the top 1% have become excessively wealthy billionaires and the middle class have gone backwards. Every billionaire like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and their ilk are an indictment on the corruption and failure of the political system to produce an equitable opportunity for all. It is not a success story to be celebrated – if you think that you are a fool or complicit in the corruption. This trend has been copied, here in Australia, to a lesser extent by the LNP. Remember the stage 3 tax cuts for the top earners! Abbott and Morrison have tried to Americanise Australia whenever they could. Australians are not so dumb and politically disengaged as their American counterparts. We like Medicare and don’t want to see it privatised. Same goes with higher education. The slashing of the public service and replacing it with tens of billions spent on consultants was indicative of Coalition federal governments and their corruption in this sphere.
Culture Wars A Smokescreen For Corruption
The culture wars are a front for graft and macro corruption. Getting the public to focus on a few transvestites rather than the sleight of hand going on with jobs for the boys and billion dollar tenders for insider mates is the name of the game. Stirring up anti woke outrage is a smokescreen. Meanwhile contracts for private companies to run detention centres are handed out to a coterie of insiders. Scott Morrison is remembered as the biggest liar as PM that Australia has ever had. Scott secretly appointed himself as minister of some 6 ministries without the nation or his party knowing anything about it. Robodebt was the biggest betrayal of some 500, 000 ordinary Australians, falsely accusing them of being welfare cheats and owing large amounts of money to Centrelink. This cost lives and the government $1.8 billion in a settled class action brought against them. A Royal Commission identified the illegality and lies perpetuated by LNP ministers and their senior bureaucrats over 6 years in government. Where do you think that Coalition politicians get these culture wars ideas from? America and Trump of course.
The PwC Betrayal Of Australia
A bunch of accountants want the federal government to increase the GST. Wasn’t it a corrupt tax accountant from PwC that betrayed Australia by informing Google and Uber about corporate tax changes coming in? Oh yeah, that’s true. This was part of the Morrison Coalition government’s use of PwC to devise new corporate tax laws, but an Australian accountant betrayed his country to spill the beans on crucial changes so that the multinationals could continue to dodge paying more tax. Back in the day, do you know what they used to do with treasonous traitors? This is a clear indication of how money and giant corporations poison the air. Ordinary folk toil away and pay their taxes whilst these guys dance on their graves and live it up.
Australians are passionate about honouring ANZAC Day and the sacrifice made by our fallen soldiers. Meanwhile, back in the real world these accountants, lawyers and corporates are pulling swifties on us all and ripping the nation off. It is time to stop taking it up the arse and fight back. Trump is an evil bastard and those US companies backing him are complicit. Increasing the GST hurts the working poor more.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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