In a recent interview on the national broadcaster a wealthy property mogul asserted, at least twice, that Australia is a high-tax country and that we pay the highest taxes in the world.
Neither of these claims was contested by the interviewer.
A quick review of the relevant Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data gives the real picture. Australia pays a total percentage of GDP that is below the OECD average (which encompasses 38 major economies). We are in fact a country with relatively low taxes.
However, it can seem to be high because we pay a lot of personal tax. Because the seriously wealthy can always find ways to minimise their tax a heavy burden falls on pay-as-you-go taxpayers who work for wages and salaries.
High personal tax rates reduce the incentive to work and lower is always better.
Anyone who receives their income from wages should be rejoicing at the slight readjustment accorded in the budget to reduce personal taxes by reducing tax aberrations, while remaining a country with overall low taxes.
The latest polls suggest that Millennials and Gen Z will vote for One Nation, in part because of their housing policies, but also because they fear they will gain little or nothing from the legacy major parties.
But, and this is a very important question, will One Nation's policies actually make housing more affordable?
There are five main areas to the policies but only one that will affect prices; the severe restrictions on migration. This should put downward pressure on prices by reducing the rate of increase in demand.
However, according to the Grattan Institute, restrictive immigration policies will make all Australians poorer due to the impact on economic growth.
This would, in all likelihood, result in either higher taxes or cuts to existing government services.
One Nations other policy elements, while possessing a degree of plausibility, are unlikely to make a significant difference.
According to Parliamentary Budget Office estimates the proposed GST moratorium on building materials would only reduce costs by 2 per cent at the most. (Labour and land costs are not included).
The proposal to ban foreign ownership will also do little with CoreLogic data indicating it accounts for less than 1 per cent of the housing stock; most of it at the luxury end of the market.
With 91 per cent of landlords owning just one or two properties the proposal to restrict negative gearing to a maximum of two properties will also fail to make much difference.
And using superannuation to purchase a primary residence will inflate prices while reducing retirement balances at the end of the working life.
One Nation, while increasingly popular, is benefiting from a protest vote against the major parties rather than believing in these housing policies? The next election will reveal what Millennials and Gen Z really think.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr's comments regarding water supply to neighbouring NSW communities are disappointing and overlook a simple truth: water is not a bargaining chip. It is a basic necessity of life.
Every living creature depends on clean water to survive. Families, children, elderly residents, farmers and businesses all rely on secure water supplies.
To suggest that access to water should be conditional upon surrendering land sends the wrong message about how neighbouring communities should work together.
The ACT and surrounding NSW regions are closely connected. Thousands of people cross the border every day for work, education, health services and recreation.
We are one region in practical terms, sharing both opportunities and challenges. Cooperation, not coercion, should guide decisions that affect people's wellbeing.
No elected leader, regardless of position, should treat essential services as leverage in a political or territorial dispute. Water infrastructure discussions should be based on long-term regional planning, mutual benefit and the needs of residents, not on what one side can extract from the other.
Communities in Yass Valley, Murrumbateman and Bungendore are not asking for special treatment. They are seeking the security that comes from reliable access to one of life's most fundamental resources.
Good neighbours do not use water as a negotiating tool. They recognise that access to clean water is a shared responsibility and an essential foundation for healthy, thriving communities.
We often hear that international students are worth $55 billion in "export" dollars to Australia. However, this does not account for money earned in Australia by international students working here, or remittances sent to their home countries.
In 2004 international students sent $1 billion home, and by 2024 this had increased to $21 billion. The people calculating the worth of international students to Australia need to update their sums and subtract the remittances and work payments from the university fees.
Father Peter Day (Letters, June 2), I'd prefer to trust a non-sentient, non-feeling machine than gods and religious dogma. We've suffered the consequences of these sociopathic fantasies long enough. We need to re-examine our humanity and realise that people who pretend to know god have caused more trouble in the world than AI ever will.
AI can read the bible in three seconds and determine it's a whole lot of gobbledygook: that is progress. It's time for anachronistic religions to confine themselves to a dark corner and leave the rest of us to get on with creating peace and harmony.
Congratulations to Zoe (The Canberra Times, June 2) for reminding everyone of the dreadful Australian decision of many years ago to abolish the Commonwealth Employment Service (established 1946, dismantled 1998) and to replace it by outsourcing the function to so called efficient private enterprise.
The current private employment services model operates as profit-driven while the CES was a model that prioritised the needs of job seekers. I believe it has been proven in the intervening years to have been a great mistake as the CES provided a proven practicable and effective organisation Australia-wide. Bring it back, just do it Prime Minister, the private sector will get over it and job seekers will applaud you.
Re: "Left or right, populism always fails the people" (June 3).
That's not actually true if there actually are elites dumping on everyone from a great height and everyone wants to call them out.
Simply put - and contrary to the left's attempt to gaslight everyone into oblivion - corporate globalism has caused Australia's drop in living standards, and everybody but the left knows they're not imagining it.
The "uni-party" is over. Resistance is futile. The left lane is ending. It is time to merge "far right".
Housing prices in Sydney and Melbourne have gone down. Only a per cent or two, but at least it's moving in the right direction. Perhaps Labor's budget is actually producing results.
I heard a finance reporter telling us how terrible this was. But then, after he told us we'd "all be rooned" by falling house prices he told us we'd "all be rooned" by fuel prices going up. Go figure.
Surely some readers of The Canberra Times can still remember when a million was a number most of us could not grasp. It might be a million pounds, cars or people.
What happened to a million? It was rapidly overtaken by a billion. That has now gone the way of millions and has been overtaken by trillions.
My mind still has problems grasping a million. I have no concept which helps me to grasp the meaning of trillions.
Life was so much easier, so friendly, so simple back then which is only 60 or so years ago. Stop the world, I want to get off.
The passing of countless climate tipping points, the stubborn refusal of the planet to warm and the seas to rise as predicted, and the cancellation of their longstanding dire climate predictions seem not to register at the UN. Undeterred by these obvious and public failures they are now issuing forecasts of a "Godzilla" El Nino in the Pacific and maintaining a "critical" status on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) despite its robust health.
El Ninos are a natural phenomenon and bad things are yet to happen, but alarmist claims about the GBR always get noticed.
A recent article failed to make it clear the Israeli Defence Force operations against Hamas are a response to the terrorist group's refusal to comply with the International Board of Peace's directive to disarm, a key condition of US president Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan. The consequence of Hamas's persistent incursions and attacks is that Israel cannot withdraw.
Donald Trump has declared he is "bigger than Elvis" after artists abandoned an Elvis anniversary concert. But although Elvis is long dead, every year Elvis fans congregate in huge numbers to remember the legendary King of Rock and Roll. When Trump is gone most people will do their best to forget him entirely.
Richard Marles turns into a $1 trillion (watch those cost overruns and now supercharged maintenance) used sub salesman cum apologist for haughty foreign governments (aka "our closest allies") and people still wonder about the political, social and economic alienation and disenchantment that draws voters to Pauline and Barnaby.
Throughout history, business has decried any increase to the minimum wage for the lower paid. The sky hasn't fallen in despite their protestations. Here's a proposal I offer to all MPs, MLAs and those within the various business bodies. Offer up an annual $10,000 from your earnings just to help the homeless and unemployed. It's just a cup of tea for you lot. Then we might take you seriously.
Ian Jannaway [Letters, June 3] asks about last Monday's public holiday and who he is being reconciled to and what offence has he committed. The only offence I can think of is the offence of an ignorance of Australia's history. Personally, I much prefer the holiday for reconciliation day to the day off we get for the celebration of the birthday of a foreign monarch (which isn't even on the right date).
The fabulous Mad (expletive) Witches recently shared a meme with pictures of Plastic Martyr, a glamorous trans woman, and Leo Macallan, a trans chap with a full beard and moustache. They asked if we wanted the feminine person in the men's bathroom and the moustachioed one in the women's. As a woman (Letters, June 2) the people I object to are the ones who want me and Mr Macallan to share a bathroom.
Trevor McPherson of Aranda in his letter "Offshore Finance" of May 28 has made the cardinal sin of not reading letters carefully. He says that in my letter of May 27 "Broken budget promises", I claimed I would invest my money overseas. In fact I said no such thing and have no plans to do so as that would still result in me having to pay capital gains tax on any profits as well.
Pauline in the Lodge? I'd rather have Joh for PM any day of the week. Those were the days.
