It's the year 2013; the cost of everything, from eating to wiping your backside, is taxed. It was a little over 10 years ago that the Liberal government put a GST into place.
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They went to an election based on the GST introduction, coupled with increased family tax benefits to those on the middle to lower income scale.
There was also a huge change to the income tax area; the married person or coupled tax rate was entirely removed.
The basis for this was to provide the extra tax break to couples via a cash payment made to the non-worker of the household; it provided those on single incomes the opportunity to access the tax-free threshold of a second person where at the time the threshold was approximately $5200.
It was a big benefit to single parents, as they were able to access for the first time a lower income tax rate in line with couple families with only one income.
Effectively, the GST was collected and a portion was to be allocated to make these additional payments. Families were the target as the GST would impact on the household expenditure to a much greater degree.
Purchases for children, such as clothing that is quickly grown out of (thus requiring continual purchases of new goods), were most obviously going to mean a family with children would pay a great deal more GST annually than the single person who might purchase minimal clothing/shoe items, as they are not growing out of them.
So, overnight, a GST came into effect and the family benefits payments were also doubled overnight.
This has been occurring for over 10 years now; family tax benefits paid to the public, only now the idea of why this payment is made has shifted to come under the banner of welfare.
It has been put into the same expenses category of the unemployment benefits, disability benefits and aged pensions. The very same party who introduced these sweeping changes to ensure the country had money to spend on betterment is now claiming the welfare bill is way too large, that people are reliant on government handouts.
The welfare bill consists of money paid for child care benefits and rebates. This area has increased in cost greatly and includes payments made to parents regardless of how much they earn, yet is called welfare?
The shifting of family tax benefits to be classed as welfare is also incorrect, as this is merely a different way of redistributing the GST paid back to the lower earnings due to children's costs.
Food, clothing, schooling, sports and sporting goods, pets, bikes, scooters, books, movies. Everything has tax paid on it; single people might pay GST on one movie ticket yet a family will pay it on three or four tickets, on double the amount of food goods and services.
Single people without children need to understand family benefits are given for a reason; mums and dads pay the very same income tax rate as a single person who has no costs of children and pays no GST to bring them up, yet they are up in arms that family tax is paid out.
Society also needs to understand that a single parent once working in a successful job earning $80,000 a year will pay more than double the amount of income tax a two-parent working family would pay if they earned $40,000 each, due to the new high threshold and tax increases .
We elected to pay a GST in order to become reliant on government support, yet now everyone wants the government support stripped away, leaving only the extra tax, all within a 15-year period.
Introducing class wars pits the middle-income earner against the lowest income earner, while the super wealthy laugh at us as we blame each other for the fantasy called the welfare bill.
Payments for unemployment are a fraction of this welfare bill, and with an unemployment rate sprouted at 5.7 per cent, how can it possibly be the drain on the country that it is being made out to be, when it has not increased at all during this period of new taxes, increasing costs and harsher economic times?
True welfare payments are that small fraction and shifting costs is shifty politics.
This year, ask yourself how you or your offspring would cope if their job were to become redundant, and ask your preferred party how they might be treated if such a thing occurs. Don't blame everyone for the visible few who wander the streets with no intention of work; many are doing the best they can to increase their opportunities and job prospects .
For every young kid hanging around central square, there are half a dozen others working part time and studying, as well as helping out at home with babysitting and other needs; you just don't see them.
For every adult dole bludger, there are 10 who are looking for work that is not available.
Look beyond your nose and ask what our government is doing with all these extra tax dollars. Even unemployed pay GST.