Gerry Harvey critical of Australian GST tax structure

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Gerry Harvey and his partner have come out criticising the goods & services tax that they are obliged to pay. Their criticism against their detractors is based on the following arguments, which I have taken the time to correct.

1. They will be forced to shift to HK and give up Australian jobs. This is not a bad thing. The Australian labour market is not short on job opportunities. We have a high standard of living because these jobs are best performed in Asia where labour is cheap. So sack the staff; this might just compel them to get a more rewarding job. We don't need to be subsidising low-quality jobs.

2. Katie Page saids detractors are focused on the short term. Actually, she is not intellectually developed to know better. The issue is not job losses. All markets give up jobs in order to develop the skills for jobs which offer greater rewards. Sales people are no longer needed because there are online specs; warehousing staff are no longer required because these low-skill jobs are more easily handled in Asia, and orders 'drop shipped' to customers using mechanised Australia Post conveyor systems. In fact, its Gerry Harvey who has thought short term. He invested in all this store space and now he can find no use for it; and he wants the Australian taxpayer to subsidise his industry. He says its about 'protecting jobs', but he has scarcely commented on the tax system in the past, because he really is only interested in himself. He uses his public profile when it suits him; not because it helps Australians. This is disingenuous.

3. Gerry Harvey is hit by an unfair tax. Yes, it is true that Harvey Norman are unfairly hurt by the Australian tax system. That is correct. So he should fight to change the tax system, not to impose more tax. He should seek a fair tax, not simply one favourable to him. He should use his resources to challenge the deductions scheme which is really just a tax evasion system. There should be no deductions for 'deductibles', particularly in the modern era when they are so easily claimed for many expenses, when almost anything could be considered a deductible. Salary earners are the hardest impacted. Their PAYE payments are very high and unfair. Corporates get away with murder....not to say that they don't have a legitimate defence. The problem is the politicians who care little how they get it; and the system which allows them to place arbitrary impositions upon anyone...including Gerry. 

4. Appeals to 'un-Australian' are about as tiresome as 'white Australia' campaigns.

5. Page argues that we have to pay for the health/education system. No we don't. Not everyone. Not everyone is using these services...so why should they pay for them. Why can't the people who use them pay for them. No objection? Good. Its not like recipients are complaining...its the people who curtail their extravagant lives to save, who don't want their lot eroded by unfair taxes.

The state governments can be expected to support 'the Harvey tax increase' because its in their interests. You can be sure that the government will adopt the tax. 

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Doctors wronged by Internal Revenue NZ

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A NZ couple - both doctors - have been found by the NZ Supreme Court to have engaged in tax avoidance. Their crime was diverting income away from their personal identities with the intent of reducing tax. There are several problems I have with this:

1. They have caused no injury to anyone

2. We have an incredibly unfair, immoral, unprincipled tax system

3. Unlike the government - this couple did not extort the money from others - they worked for it, and as doctors, they saved lives.

4. The government, which has the capacity to change the law, lobby the community for principles, spend money wisely, and withdrawal from its extortive practices, fails to do so.

So I ask you, who would you prefer to have the money, earned by the doctors, and extorted by the Internal Revenue Dept? I personal would love to see government funded, but not on the current terms. Given the huge public deficit, they cannot even do that. Not just NZ either. There are 9 of the 24 OECD countries around the world which have unacceptable deficits, and consider this as well:

1. There has been no substantive (debt crippling) war in 65 years

2. Add a 10th country, as Australia was until the unprecedented 'China-inspired' commodities boom a 'banana republic'.

This pair of doctors ought to be national heroes. As heroines, should we not expect them to fight for their cause - for a fair tax system? Perhaps, but I suspect they never had the moral or intellectual ammunition to defend their beliefs. Is that their responsibility? I say that its the governments. After all, our politicians are the custodians of the 'moral forces', namely the military, the police, and quarantine. Ought we not expect justice and principles from them. Where is the moral framework. I can't even see any mention of moral principles or human rights on the National Party website. What I do see is that the National Party philosophy is 'pragmatism', i.e. a philosophy of non-principle, and the National Party president Peter Goodfellow is the nation's 16th wealthiest men. Might we expect that, since the nation's governing party is also presided over by 'big business', and small business is getting such tax rorts, that it is the NZ salary earner, which includes doctors, who are getting such a bad deal. This couple is being persecuted for being doctors; for not having the time to attend to the government's complicated tax system, to create the same 'avoidance structures' as the wealthiest in the country. I personally can't be bothered to invest in such dishonest structures. I have neither the time for such 'low productivity', wealth-destruction measures, that I simply don't do it.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com