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Taxing The Country Into Welfare And Disability
"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperityis like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.It is impossible." Those were not the words of an Australian Commonwealth Treasurer but rather of Winston Churchill addressing the House of Commons in 1925 arguing against a proposed increase in taxes. Almost...
8 Practical Ideas To Save Victoria
Prior to 2020 I was an extremely proud Victorian. But what I’ve come to realise is that our human rights in Victoria are being limited or bypassed at the hands of the Dan Andrews’ State Government and are no longer adequately protected. It was also disappointing to discover from the results of our recent State election that a substantial...
Taxation Dysfunction
We’re all familiar with the dictum, “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” But Will Rogers also astutely observed, “Yes, and the only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time parliament sits!” The first thing to say about taxation is that we need less of it, not more. Last week’s budget made it clear the...
When The Government Stops You Working
According to the market research company Roy Morgan, there are almost 2.8 million Australians who either want a job or would like more paid work. Those 2.8 million people are all missing out on a better standard of living, and those who are unemployed are also missing out on the well-known benefits of having a job: self-esteem, purpose and support. This...
An Inflated Balloon And A Fish Market With Smelly Cash
Reform of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been in the headlines. The problem with the RBA however is not structural. It is a failure by the members of the board to be able to adequately define “inflation”. At the heart of all the angst is the statement made by the RBA Governor, Philip Lowe, in 2020 that he...
Tobacco Smuggling: A Problem of Government
If smuggling isn’t the world’s oldest profession, it’s likely a smuggler was one of its first customers. The moment a tax or restriction is imposed on any trade, an incentive for smuggling is created. Smuggling has also influenced world affairs. Britain’s heavy-handed attempts to prevent its US colonies from trading with the Spanish empire, which were circumvented by smuggling, stirred...
5 Magic Apps For Prosperity
In his famous 1964 “A Time for Choosing” speech, Ronald Regan recounted a story: “Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban...
Brave Little Trooper
“To these people, the war is simply a continuous calamity which sweeps to and fro over their bodies like a tidal wave.” ...
Academic Independence Under Question
Australia is implementing tangible measures to counter the security threats imposed by Communist China. The AUKUS security pact has turned out to be a robust, bipartisan commitment and our PM has recently sealed the deal with India to strengthen the two countries’ trade and defence cooperation. These actions are loud and clear: Australia no longer wants to put all its eggs...
The Colonial Mindset
In the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, people speak of the Spanish conquistadors as them. They invaded us, they murdered us. This allows populist leaders to frame the entire historical narrative of the region as a story of oppression, blaming their countries’ current misfortunes on the atrocities of colonisation; 200 years on. If blaming the Spanish Empire for the ex-colonies’ abysmal levels of poverty in the 21st century is not enough,...
