Rudd's Massive New Tax on Wealth - CPRS

[redandblack]

Good side-step, Psyber, but my point was that this is hardly a ''massive new tax on wealth'' and in any event, tax law overall massively assists the wealthy.

Pity the Democrat didn't see that there were more holes in your Liberian argument than in the tax laws for the wealthy. Good to see you selecting Alan Bond to defend your argument

[Psyber]

Good side-step, Psyber, but my point was that this is hardly a ''massive new tax on wealth'' and in any event, tax law overall massively assists the wealthy.
Pity the Democrat didn't see that there were more holes in your Liberian argument than in the tax laws for the wealthy. Good to see you selecting Alan Bond to defend your argument ;)

Whether or not one would call it a ''massive new tax on wealth'', it is definitely a new tax disguised as something else because it does nothing but generate new cash collection by the government and give them some to redistribute.
It is dishonest to say it was actually doing anything to change our pollution output unless you fantasise the extra cost passed on to the end user would cause the general public to reduce energy use significantly, and more than temporarily.

I thought Alan Bond was, at the time, the ultimate example of the "cheating bastard", and, of course, Bob Hawke had been matey with him...
I'd worked out that all the real assets in his company structures, were not in the public ones you could buy shares in, before his collapse.
Of course it didn't take a lot of financial skills to expect that.

Apropos tax compliance generally:
I have never broken the law regarding taxation. In fact, I'd been happily going along with standard ATO rulings until the Hawke/Keating regime, but when they introduced the idea that you needed to declare a high income to pay any worthwhile amount into superannuation, then introduced a higher tax as a follow up, I was irritated by the way they assumed everyone was stupid, and wouldn't see through it any more than the unions saw through the manipulation of import duty policy to lower CPI, and therefore wage claims under the "Accord". Then I got motivated to claim absolutely everything I could, where I hadn't bothered to before. So I decided to structure my affairs accordingly.

As an example, I'd always just accepted the standard ATO ruling of 90% deductibility on one car only for doctors in full time private practice, and never bothered to keep records to try to claim more. But when the new government made me do a lot of extra unpaid paper work to justify even that, I fought back. I upgraded the car, proved 100% business usage for the new car, and 30% usage of an older car with a second log book. The oldest car that had been private use for a couple of years was sold. I maintained that pattern thereafter.

They'd have gotten more tax revenue out of me if they'd left me to my lazy acceptance of the status quo instead of getting pushy.
Once annoyed out of my lazy ways, I figured it was reasonable retaliation to push claims to the limit, within the law.

[Psyber]

Good side-step, Psyber, but my point was that this is hardly a ''massive new tax on wealth'' and in any event, tax law overall massively assists the wealthy.
Pity the Democrat didn't see that there were more holes in your Liberian argument than in the tax laws for the wealthy. Good to see you selecting Alan Bond to defend your argument

By the way R&B, I meant to ask what the holes were in case I need them plugged some day.
I hadn't researched the idea, it was off the top of my head at the time, and I had assumed bribes might fix things in Liberia..

After my late 1980s experience I decided it was too much trouble to employ anyone but family, in Australia anyway..
I had had the foresight a little earlier to encourage my future wife to apply for and get a grade 6 clerical position in Social Security before quitting to become my Practice Manager, then my wife.
That permitted me to pay her on parity with the position she had held, in perpetuity - otherwise, because she was my wife, I'd have only been allowed to pay her a fraction of that.
The ATO queried it a couple of times, but knew they didn't have a leg to stand on.
Now there's a sexist and anti-marriage policy...

[redandblack]

Well, mate, firstly if you were Alan Bond in that case, why would you go to all that trouble just to make a few cents.

Secondly, the reason companies register in Liberia is precisely that they charge next to nothing, or certainly far less than ''non ports of convenience''. That's why they do it.

Separately, as for your wife, she is entitled to a deduction for a proper salary according to the position she holds and the amount of work she does, regardless of whether she's your wife or not. I agree that if she was in another position, you can't pay her through your practice for work not done, but I fail to see the point of your planning on this?

BTW, I happily employ someone and have no trouble at all. Perhaps partly because I think there are other things in life than making the maximum profit on every transaction in my life?

[Psyber]

Well, mate, firstly if you were Alan Bond in that case, why would you go to all that trouble just to make a few cents.
Secondly, the reason companies register in Liberia is precisely that they charge next to nothing, or certainly far less than ''non ports of convenience''. That's why they do it.

Separately, as for your wife, she is entitled to a deduction for a proper salary according to the position she holds and the amount of work she does, regardless of whether she's your wife or not. I agree that if she was in another position, you can't pay her through your practice for work not done, but I fail to see the point of your planning on this?

BTW, I happily employ someone and have no trouble at all. Perhaps partly because I think there are other things in life than making the maximum profit on every transaction in my life?

At the time the ATO rulings were limiting the hourly rate, one was allowed to pay one's wife, to below the base grade for a receptionist.
Because of the planning I was able to pay her as Practice Manager, as a Grade 6 clerk, not at the much lower ATO rate.
She worked the same hours I did.

My decision about not employing staff but my wife to be was shaped by:
1. The extra paper work involved when you are flat out, and the sole source of business income as you are in specialist medical practice.
2. The problems I had experienced safely getting rid of a few dud employees - like one that was drinking on the job and making errors I had to fix, and was wasting more of my time.
3. There was union talk then of introducing annual leave for casual employees, which was something one paid the casual rate to avoid having to mess around with.

I figured I could trust the woman I was about to marry to get it right and not have to check everything.
[It turned out the drinker had never billed a patient who had given her a Siamese kitten.]

[Psyber]

Well, mate, firstly if you were Alan Bond in that case, why would you go to all that trouble just to make a few cents.

In that scenario, the few cents was in Australia and the major profit was off shore.

I knew someone just after that who was acting as an importing agent, and had a similar plan in action.
You paid him, he imported you a computer direct from Taiwan, and he provided the warranty.
He made $25 in Oz on every sale, which was eaten by any warranty provided.
The Taiwanese company deposited US$250 in his Hong Kong bank account for every sale.
He used that money when overseas.

[redandblack]

And paid tax on it in Australia, or he's a tax cheat. Residents of Australia are taxable on their foreign non-employment income.

[Psyber]

And paid tax on it in Australia, or he's a tax cheat. Residents of Australia are taxable on their foreign non-employment income.

He may well have been a tax cheat, I don't think he was ever a moral person about money and legality.
The fact that he was a dual Oz and US citizen may have provided him a loop hole - I never looked into it..
He was an intelligent and entertaining fellow to know socially, but I wouldn't have gone into business with him myself, or gotten too close.

I think he did have a family trust set up before the laws were modified on trust structures, and I do recall he, at one time, had a Health Care Card, while living in Burnside.
Again, I didn't look closely into it - I don't have the accountancy gene. I look at the legislation as it applies to me and run my ideas past my accountant to see if he thinks they have legs and are legal.

[fish]

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[Psyber]

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