I was recently driving down the South
Eastern Freeway which is a taxpayer funded road and I am forced to pay a
toll to use it. Basically I have to pay for it twice- tax and toll- maybe even
three times if you count the tax extracted through the petrol bowser. While I
was in the midst of a traffic snarl the size of Los Angeles I began to wonder
why every time I drive on that particular road I am involved in vehicle
flavoured jams. Whilst I morphed into boredom mode I asked myself why I
actually pay taxes and what is my money being spent on? I concluded my money
hasn't been invested in bitumen.
Rumour has it that the Australian taxpayer
is the highest taxed person in the world? I couldn't find solid evidence to
prove that statement and the data I found was inconclusive. Perhaps it's a
government conspiracy or, it could be impossible to accurately decipher the
endless taxation systems and laws controlling the different nations of our
over-taxed world. We can present comparisons however- Germany versus Australia.
Germany has survived the GFC relatively unscathed. Australia has faired okay
compared to countries such as Greece etc. I must admit my bias. I am of German
heritage and I will use my hard working German mum as an example. She still
receives a German taxpayer funded pension similar to superannuation even though
she has been an Australian citizen for 45 years. This suggests to me the
Deutcshe superannuation scheme is terrific and working well. Clever investing and policy adhered to
over the course of time has caused a successful outcome for German retirees.
When I retire in twenty odd years I will receive zippo. Zero. Zilch from my government.
In Australia- hospitals and educational institutions, the defence force and police force are all
taxpayer-funded services. A logical kind of normal person is obliging and
willing to contribute to their operation. I wonder though, what we are actually
getting for our hard earned dollars. I pay local council rates but receive no
rubbish pickup, no water connection or sewerage service. You can safely assume
I live in a rural area and therefore it's my bad postcode choices that caused
my infrastructure to be non-existent. It still makes me wonder on a larger
scale though about public servants and politicians. What exact percentage of
the federal and state budget goes into their bank accounts on our behalf. Just
how much do we pay them? Mywage.org states Julia Gillard earns AUD $495,430.00
per annum. http://mywage.org.au/main/salary/celebrity-pay/politician-pay
The same web-site claims Bill Clinton is collecting over AUD $12,000,000. If
Julia hits the public speaking circuit after she gets the boot this election
she could be earning 24 times more finances talking about what she failed at
whilst being a tax payer funded employee. Top federal public servants earn around five
times the average wage. Why? If I failed providing a service I was paid to
perform at work I would get sacked. Instead of sacking incompetent pollies we
have an election. Of course we paid AUD $51,347,774 for the 2010 federal
election. http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/electoral_pocketbook/2011/ep-costs.htm
According to the Australian Bureau of
Statistics there were 1, 843,500 persons, or approximately 16% of the entire
Australian workforce working as public servants in 2010. The ABS quotes their
three main functions:
"- Policy
advice
- The
oversight of policy implementation and
- The provision of the administrative machinery required to
deliver the policies of the relevant government or agency." http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1301.0~2012~Main%20Features~Public%20service~91
So that makes it all clear as mud. What
does a politician actually do? I want a simple graph explaining exactly how
much money is spent on whom and I want to sight their work diaries. This is
what I found when I googled this very question answered by a very happy tax
payer funded worker: "35 hour work week.
9 day fortnight.
20 days annual leave
. 1.5
bonus days off
. 3 days off in a row for sick leave with NO medical certificate. Heaps of days off for 'training'
could life be any better....?"
Hmmm.
Do politicians have any idea what it feels
like to be tight with personal cash flow? Have they ever experienced being
unable to pay the phone bill? To not know where the money for groceries is coming
from or school fees or sports fees for the kids. Don't mention the vet bill for
the dog. Have they got any idea how tough it is just to get by for most people?
And that brings me back to roads. The South
Gippsland Highway (my highway) is the most prolific for potholes in the state
of Victoria. The bitumen is in
constant need of repair. My road is littered with crater-sized potholes that
love to blow out your tyres or crush your suspension and shame your wheel
balance. How stupid am I? Why do I pay for road repairs and maintenance that I
fail to receive? I know I am having a whine. If you compare my circumstances to
that of a third world person I live in luxury. But third world citizens
probably don't pay tax at the rate I do.
I really should just take Centerlink
payments in whatever form it would come but I know some poor taxpayer is
funding it. Centrelink by the way is the largest employer of public servants.
;-)
"Last night in his speech, President Bush called for a complete overhaul of the tax code. He said he was shocked to find out that some millionaires in this country were still paying taxes." --Jay Leno
ReplyDeleteEven though Bush is a little old and decrepit his ridicule- care of Jay Leno- is timeless.