TaxTag
Stand: That Australia implement a new system called TaxTag which;
1. Allows us to track where our tax dollars are being spent.
2. Holds the government to account on how they spend our tax dollars and,
3. Gives us a greater say on where we want our taxes invested.
Do you support the introduction of a system whereby taxpayers can tag and track how their taxes are spent?
1. Allows us to track where our tax dollars are being spent.
2. Holds the government to account on how they spend our tax dollars and,
3. Gives us a greater say on where we want our taxes invested.
Do you support the introduction of a system whereby taxpayers can tag and track how their taxes are spent?
Have your Say...
Background: I welcome paying taxes. What I don’t welcome is the waste that I see happening to my tax dollars and that’s why we need a new system called TaxTag. Here’s how it would work; When we lodged our tax returns or BAS statements that we could actually track where our tax dollars were being spent but, more than that, we could actually specify where we wanted a portion of those dollars to go (like for instance to fund a HyperTran network).
A Taxtag is a way of tagging or tracking our tax dollars to see how and where they get used.
Granted, Taxtagging could be a somewhat controversial plan but the fact is I feel we've been driven to it. Driven to it by unacceptable waste and by the unreasonable and unjustified increases in taxation by our government From now on when we make our income-tax and BAS payments we should be given general and specific options of where we want a portion of those dollars to go. I don't see why there would be a problem with this, it's our money and we're really just paying the government to allocate it in order to best serve us. |
On top of tracking where our tax dollars go, I further believe we, the people, should also have a level of control how our tax dollars are allocated.
I bet we'd all be surprised to see exactly how our 'hard earned' is being spent. Doubtless, a large proportion of it is being invested well and we'd be happy with the way it's being managed. However, I'd also suggest that the ways in which sizable chunks of our cash is being spent wouldn't make a lot of us jump for joy. That's why I believe it's our right to check where our tax dollars are being spent.
I don't believe this, or any recent government has earned the right to ask us for more money.
Tracking tax dollars shouldn't be that hard. The technology should be relatively easy to implemment. When you lodge your income tax or BAS you're given a code or "Tag" which is allocated to a particular block of money. It might be that blocks of money are broken into [$5000] increments and as they move through the Tax Office and into the various government programs we're are able to track the and see where they're being used.
There are some pretty powerful reasons why everyday Australains deserve a TaxTag System.
- The govermnent of this country is spending more than it's earning. Australia as a nation is carrying around a $165 Billion dollars debt.* This makes us vunerable. It weakens us internationally and makes us more open to 'selling the farm'.
- Waste! Waste! Waste!
- The Australian Tax Office has become arrogant. If you try to call them you have to wait on hold for 40 monutes. If you're a day late with yoru BAS you're hit with a fine.
- One thing I've learnt over the years is that it's easy to spend other peoples money. Governments have grown accustomed to implementing new taxes at every turn and they have proven to be grossly unaccountable for where these taxes are being spent. If they believe they're doing a good job and not wasting a cent then they should have no problem with this new level transparency.
Cartoon Source: http://frontfin.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/taxes-and-government.jpg
* http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/julia-gillards-gift-to-australia-is-massive-and-growing-debt/story-fndo317g-1226607195643
* http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/julia-gillards-gift-to-australia-is-massive-and-growing-debt/story-fndo317g-1226607195643