Spent the weekend doing my FY24 tax and started thinking how nuts the taxation system is, you're literally getting screwed out of every dollar.
Before I engage on this rant, a disclaimer:
I know I am priveleged, live in a safe country, have shelter, health, family - I also know as a dAy TrAdEr I contribute nothing to society and should generally just feel ashamed at my existence and I look forward to those who will highlight this in the comments.
Now we have that disclaimer out of the way... let me begin my ramble... Assume you are a young, motivated person who wants to be successful in this country but you're starting from scratch. I think most people can agree that earning 200k p.a. in the current environment is probably not that successful, nor is it particularly easy to get to that level of income, nor can you really afford a house.. it could be a lot worse of course, but we are told that earning 200k means you're wealthy as fuck, so wealthy in fact, the govt will begin to tax you at 47% on every dollar you earn over this amount - how good!
Then, with your hard earned post tax dollars, you get to spend an additional 10% of your earnings on GST on pretty much every transaction you make! You want to use a card? Debit or credit? Doesn't matter, another 1.5-3% of your post tax income gone into the ether.. they don't accept cash anyway!
Anyway, you keep battling and working away, constantly paying the man named Anthony/Jim.. you finally get to the position where you can afford a house, a lovely 3 bedder in south west Sydney on an expansive 250m2 block, right next to the new airport - you've made it! You get pre-approved for a mortgage, and do the math, and realise that over 25 years, you're paying your principal in interest - how good! You suck it up, pay your 4-5% stamp duty in post tax dollars of course (shame it's eaten most of your deposit). But dont worry, you're finally on the property ladder that you've heard so much about. You have to drive to work (you could catch the train if you want to fraternise with the poors, but you're uber-rich earning $200k so fuck that, not sharing a seat with a peasant) so off you go to get some petrol! Clipped again! Fuel excise tax, thats another 48c/litre in tax everytime you fill up your shitbox, don't worry 10% GST on top!
After your 90 minute commute that cost $25 in tolls, you arrive at work and make your way to that corner cubicle, you're a bit early so you decide to check out SMH website - whats news? You see the government has spent another X Billion dollars on Y! (X = probably a double digit number, Y= the dumbest thing you can think of) so you click to investigate... paywalled - fuck! Can't even get news for free, how good! But the budget is coming up, and you've heard that revenue is through the roof so you're excited to see if you'll share in some of the fruits of your labour.. And then it hits you - of course you won't get anything, you're rich!
If you've made it this far, well done, lots of hyperbole above.. so now for my point.. we are the lucky country (we literally are lucky AF, there is no disputing this, see pic 2), we've fluked our way here though sheer geographic luck (mostly commodities). There is literally no reason we shouldn't have an epic surplus with low income taxes. Instead we have an abundance of waste, useless politicians taxing you more and spending that on complete garbage. Some of the policy may have good intent, but the budgets and execution of these policies are worse than hopeless.
You look around at the moment (or read the paywalled news) at young people in particular and it just feels like the fabric of our great country (and the world) is deteriorating. We aren't incentivising our young people to be productive, we are incentivising our young people to be lazy. The system, taxation in particular, is not providing anyone with a carrot.
If you are 18 in 2024 and you look ahead at your future prospects it must feel pretty bleak, but it really doesn't have to be this way. As someone who plans on taking Jim Chalmers advice to "have a baby" in the near future, I want my kids to grow up in a prosperous nation, one ripe with opportunity and incentive as long as you'll roll your sleeves up and have a go. We can have all this, and it doesn't have to be hard, we are the lucky country after all, but for some reason, rather than being smart it constantly feels like our leaders are hell bent on spinning a zero in the roulette game of economic management.
End rant, enjoy your Sunday, be nice...
@StarDestr0yer Mid west lithium was smart to have pulled their IPO. Chariot had the opportunity to list this 18 months ago but chose to do it now. Foolish decision by management. Captain hindsight...