Yay! Tax cuts come into force today!
It's only a small amount but when your budget requires every cent to count it is welcome relief to be able to keep a little more of what we earn.
Now the government just need to keep on going, increase the point the top tax tiers kick in or better still do away with them and have everyone on the lower rate, because despite what the socialists at The Standard say, an income of $40,000 does not make a family "rich" and it is not just the families earning less than that that are in desperate need of a tax break.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
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an income of $40,000 does not make a family "rich" and it is not just the families earning less than that that are in desperate need of a tax break.
ReplyDeleteOf course. Families who earn more than $40k are in just as desperate need of tax relief as those under 40K. Perhaps that's because the higher income people can pay their cafe meals with their tax cuts while the poor try and reduce their debt by shopping the specials.
We live on more than $40k, not a lot more thanks to ACC knocking 20% off my former salary, we have no debt to service (apart from student loans), we have cheap rent, yet every week we struggle to meet the budget and it never includes cafe meals or any other luxuries - we even eat lentils once a week, at least on bad weeks a lot more, to keep costs down! If we have meat I feed all 6 of us on 4-500g. Budget and special shopping is an every week reality. Of course it is harder for people on less than $40k but the suggestion that those over $40k, with families, are living the cafe lifestyle is naive. The tax tiers haven't been shifted in years yet the cost of living has climbed and climbed it needs to be addressed. We are overtaxed and it is hurting everyone, not just those on less than $40k.
ReplyDeleteRecent blog post: It's Tax-Cut Day!
This whole tax cuts for the rich annoys me, it is purely a function of paying a percentage tax. It is not like everyone has a poll tax and the rich are being excluded. Tax cuts always go disproportionately to the rich, just as tax hikes hit disproportionately to the rich. Frankly I prefer a flat tax, and I have sympathies with making the first 10000 tax free. For several reasons but one of them is to lessen tax cut for the rich arguments. One can hardly argue that the poor are not getting tax cuts when they don't actually pay any! (Save sales tax)
ReplyDeleteSeems like I need to add my URL, even using openID.
ReplyDeleteIs there anyway you can increase the size of your combox? It is really too little.
I note I can't vote on my own comments :) Fair enough.
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The whole "this is just a tax cut for the rich" thing is absurd. How is it an advantage for the rich to pay the same rate of tax as someone like me who's below the $40K mark? That the government is stealing less from the wealthy now amounts to favouritism? In what world? Even at the same tax rate they still PAY more tax than I do. Some people aren't satisfied unless those who get more are given an extra kick in the guts for it to compensate for their success.
ReplyDeleteRecent blog post: Engaging with critics of religiously grounded ethics: A depressingly bleak scholarly landscape
Your comment reminds me of a conversation that I had with a struggling mortgage broker. WE plan to meet for coffee to discuss business.
ReplyDeleteHe suggested that we meet at Starbucks. I suggested a local shop. I like giving my money to local businesses where the money will stay around town. In our conversation we tells me the he is struggling not to go into foreclosure. Yet, he is still paying twice as much for coffee at Starbucks! I'm am still shaking my head about how slow some people are to make changes.
If my home is about to be foreclosed... I'm having free water and making my coffee at home!
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You are all so right! (apart from guest)
ReplyDeleteBethyada I need to now fiddle with the layout and I definately hear you on the size of the combox - it is driving me nuts too. Matt writes all his comments in Word because of his dyslexic tendancies and then he just pastes them in but I am now thinking I might have to do the same just so I can keep track of what I have written and check it over before hitting submit. There will be a way to customise it, I just have to do battle with some CSS *groan*.
The rest of the features are just about getting used to how it works - I find that it now recognises me so I don't have to type in anything but Matt, because he is on section and has limited access to the net, has not yet tried it out so knowing him he will probably accidentally post as me a few times when he does til he gets used to it.
Have you seen that if you left click the arrow that shows up next to the link below each post left by someone with a blog that it tells you how many times people have clicked that link and other data too - tres cool!
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