Rather than talk about new taxes what we ought to be talking about is reining in government
expenditure. Like the wrong-headed Rudd Government, the Gillard Government also seems to think that
they can spend their way to prosperity. All governments are guilty of hare-brained schemes to fix
one problem or another, and the Rudd Government was exceptional in this regard, but now we have
Gillard trying to drive home a carbon tax, which she said in the election campaign would never be
considered.
The tax is supposedly to address the issue of climate change. Even if one were foolish enough to
believe that carbon dioxide had anything other than a minor impact on climate, and given the fact
that Australia is responsible for ~ 1.5% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide, out of a global
total of 3%, how does one expect to have any impact whatsoever on climate? It just doesn't pass the
smell test because there can't be any impact whatsoever.
Yet the Gillard Government, and their wrong-headed advisors, such as the so-called climate expert
Ross Garnaut, who is an economist with no technical background at all, wants to raise billions in
taxes to address a non-addressable issue so they can presumably have even more money to hand out to
their special interests, so as to stay in power. There is no other explanation which makes any
sense.
What Australia really needs is a thorough analysis of all big-ticket government expenditures by
outside parties, such as KPMG, Deloitte's or McKinsey, so that all lousy returns on expenditure can
be highlighted for their waste and inefficiencies and, as a result, taxes can be reduced for both
individuals and corporates. We are always ill-served by governments but this one is particularly on
the nose.
1. Do you agree with Peter's views on climate change?
2. Do we need a carbon tax?
3. Should all big-ticket government expenditures be analysed by outside parties?
4. Please rate the Gillard government's performance so far on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is very
poor - 10 is excellent)
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