THE Tax Institute has recommended the re-introduction of death duties in what surely is one of the worst plans since The Greens campaigned in central Queensland in 2019.
It’s common knowledge that national revenue increases when economic activity is stimulated by reducing taxation rates.
- Tax Institute recommends re-introduction of death duties.
- Such a move will free government from the shackles of fiscal discipline.
- Someone with an ounce of economic literacy needs to blow torch this nonsense.
Despite an initial revenue hit, revenue grows over time and results in nation-wide prosperity, apropos Singapore and the like.
Most wealthy people in the UK arrange their affairs not to pay death duties, as would Australians – but the diversion of resources to do this is economically wasteful.
STIMULATE
The most efficient use of inheritance occurs when beneficiaries are removed from receiving the pension, and also spend/circulate their cash to stimulate the economy.
This both increases GST intake while boosting personal income tax levies from increased employment activity.
The plan should be to incentivise and grow the economic pie and resultant tax revenue, not shrink it using the dead hand of the State.
The danger of floating such idiotic ideas is that they appeal to weak, free-spending governments, who are forever tempted to increase duties and lower tax thresholds.
Australians are significantly more prosperous now than when it had death duties up until the early 80s.
Former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen certainly enriched his State by unilaterally abolishing them in the 70s and allowing the cash to be put to better economic use, whatever his other sins were.
Most governments are habitual poor spenders and have recently wracked-up massive debts.
If Australians don’t start living within their means and reduce the size of government spending, they will eventually impoverish the nation.
ENVY TAX
Despite this danger, too many seemingly seek to embark on a “Venezuela” trajectory with their proposed “envy tax”.
Higher living standards follow a reduction in the size of government, which is much more likely to provide a better service in a streamlined form, and allows the private sector to grow.
What the Tax Institute, in practical terms, proposes is to free governments from the shackles of fiscal discipline and employ more public servants as per Victoria, from where a steady northward exodus of the populace has begun.
The Tax Institute stood by for years whilst the ATO monstered small businesses until the likes of Robert Gottliebsen and a bipartisan Senate Select Committee finally took them to task.
With ATO personnel lucky to escape jail for defrauding selected victims in the name of the State, the institute stood silent.
What’s the purpose of The Tax Institute, if not to further the public interest?
Its ridiculous espousal of death duties is a direct appeal to socialists – just as heroin is to addicts.
Someone with an ounce of economic literacy needs to blow torch this nonsense before Australia’s politicians get wind of it.PC
Agree entirely
The ABC has been running a campaign in favour of inheritance tax, or death duty, for some time which should be enough to warn anybody off the idea. But let’s look at the underlying facts. In the first instance, despite assertions to the contrary, governments encourage inflation. Why? Inflation washes away government debt, now massively expanded thanks to the Covid relief measures needed to prevent civil disorder. It follows that the purchasing power of the currency will be eroded at the compound rate of inflation. This has the effect of creating a nominal asset price boom, something already happening thanks to the quantitive easing that has been policy since 2008. We therefore seem to be on the brink of hyper-inflation, particularly where house prices are concerned. In times of hyper-inflation you need to borrow money at fixed rates which will turn out to be negative in real terms, while the principal of the loan becomes nearly worthless at maturity. Is there anything more inequitable than the confiscatory taxing of purely nominal gains that are the result of government monetary policy? We can’t expect Leftist institutions like the ABC to work this out, but hopefully the electorate is smart enough to identify the rip-off an inheritance tax entails .
The rocket scientists proposing the death (inheritance) tax are those who have never managed to over achieve and become financially stable, comfortable or independant. They miss the point that if such a tax looked like becoming law, the wealthy (who tend to be big employers) will flee to countries that are less inclined to wealth theft. Australia will be worse off than it already is (many of our best, brightest and wealthiest have already left).
No tax could be better calculated to reduce average living standards over time, and the electorate should send a clear message to all parliamentarians that any party proposing the same becomes unelectable as a consequence. The hapless politician who is too weak to be able to cut government spending has no business being entrusted with the nation’s financial affairs anymore than a problem gambler who can’t keep away from the pokies. Let them trash their own lives, but not ours. Most Australians want to work and save and get ahead, not be placed in penury by these misfits.
It was a simple matter to see that this was coming, and in fact I myself have been predicting the reimposition of death duties for several years now.
Given our parlous financial situation, it would be more correct to say that *debt* will bury Australia, and that death duties will be part of a futile attempt to dig up the corpse.
Who is Nick Bury? I want to look into the whites of his eyes.
I agree with him on most things, but he presents as a social media icon.
Does he really exist?
I do exist, and have faced death several times, keeping the community safe. Having dealt with the worst crims over a 30 year police career and incarcerated some of the same, any suggestion that someone would seek to deprive self of free speech is unrealistic notwithstanding age, and that my times at police boys clubs in the ring are well behind me .
This is a really stupid plan that will not grow our revenue at all, but shrink it, and really hurt poor people over time. Social justice warriors should go out and acquire their own assets rather than seeking to sponge off those who have been prepared to put in the hard yards, especially tradies who really work hard for their living and want to leave a better life for their kids.