Stephan Roos

Finance and Mortgage Broker - achieving great results for my business clients and home owners.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

@TMFScottP It’s interesting that we find ourselves in this place where the fish and chips lady is the preferred PM. The two major parties have created this. They have a lot to answer for.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

Overall tax take isn’t actually high — 30.2% of GDP vs OECD average ~34%.
What feels high is the mix: we lean heavily on personal income tax (top rate 47% with Medicare), thresholds aren’t indexed so bracket creep keeps biting, plus Super is another 12% off the top that most people treat as a tax. Lots of smaller state levies on top.
The total pie is smaller than Europe’s. The slice taken from wages is just more visible.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

@KatyKray73 The Kamala Harris of Australia…

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

@Teslaconomics Try it out. If Grok Bot messes up, we will make you whole.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

@AlboMP This won’t help the new homes required…

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

Just keeping this here for Jim Chalmers. The man of the people.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

@Melbourne_says @BenCarrollMP Math works the same in Sydney.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

The idea itself is free.
No one owns it, no one has to pay a licence fee to think it, and no one is forced to fund it.
Someone may have paid for your education, but that doesn’t make the concept of gravity or “2+2=4” a taxpayer-funded service.
A dental clinic requires ongoing forced transfers of money. An idea doesn’t.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

@Thisismy10xo1 @NatalieSuleyman Something that doesn’t require someone else to be forced to pay for it.
Air, sunlight, and ideas are free.
A taxpayer-funded dental clinic isn’t.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

I’m not claiming anything. The government said the 10 clinics will see ~100,000 people a year.
100,000 ÷ 10 clinics = 10,000 patients per clinic
10,000 ÷ 365 days ≈ 27 patients per day.
That’s their own figure, not mine. If you think a clinic should see more than that, take it up with Ben Carroll.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

@PeterCa22748591 @NatalieSuleyman True. It’s free at the point of use. That’s not the same as free.
Someone still has to pay the dentists, the rent, the equipment and the power. That someone is the taxpayer. Calling it “free” just hides the cost.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

Costello did decide in 2002/03 not to drive gross debt all the way to zero — that was to keep a functioning government bond market. But net debt was eliminated (and went negative) by 2006. The two measures are not the same. Net debt is the more relevant measure of the government’s overall balance-sheet position; the residual gross debt was kept deliberately small for market reasons.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

ABS data out last week shows the opposite on the numbers that matter.
First home buyer loan commitments (the standard measure of new buyers getting into the market):
Dec qtr 2025: 31,783
Mar qtr 2026: 30,241
Jun qtr 2026: 29,319
That’s a 2.9% fall in the latest quarter and flat on a year earlier.
Investor loans fell harder (−8.6%), so less relative competition is fair. But “more Australians getting the keys” isn’t what the official numbers show.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

It’s not free. Taxpayers are paying for the dentists, the buildings, the equipment and the electricity.
$230 million for 10 clinics that will see ~100,000 people a year. With 7 million Victorians, that’s a drop in the ocean that will still leave most people waiting or paying privately.
If the goal is better access, fair enough. Just stop calling it “free”.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

It’s not free. Taxpayers are paying for the dentists, the buildings, the equipment and the electricity.
$230 million for 10 clinics that will see ~100,000 people a year. With 7 million Victorians, that’s a drop in the ocean that will still leave most people waiting or paying privately.
If the goal is better access, fair enough. Just stop calling it “free”.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

It’s not free. Taxpayers are paying for the dentists, the buildings, the equipment and the electricity.
$230 million for 10 clinics that will see ~100,000 people a year. With 7 million Victorians, that’s a drop in the ocean that will still leave most people waiting or paying privately.
If the goal is better access, fair enough. Just stop calling it “free”.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

@tomdflynn It’s free at the point of use. That’s not the same as free.
Someone still has to pay the dentists, the rent, the equipment and the power. That someone is the taxpayer. Calling it “free” just hides the cost.

[Stephan Roos @slroos]

It’s not free. Taxpayers are paying for the dentists, the buildings, the equipment and the electricity.
$230 million for 10 clinics that will see ~100,000 people a year. With 7 million Victorians, that’s a drop in the ocean that will still leave most people waiting or paying privately.
If the goal is better access, fair enough. Just stop calling it “free”.