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| Ballot box - making your vote count | |
Whether taxes are theft is something that civilized statists and libertarians will
debate over beers long after the effects of the amber fluid have removed all
semblance of analytical rationality. But it seems
that the federal election campaign is having the same effect on an electorate
numbed by political rhetoric and half truths from both sides of the spectrum. First we had Mark (Maddog) Latham insist that people were better off with
less money. Because people did their budgeting on a weekly basis, giving them
an extra $2 a week, but taking $600 away at the end of the year made them
better off. Doubtless there were some financially bewildered True Believers who
swallowed this, but surely the intellectual elites
(ie anyone who can use a calculator) must have seen through it. But elections in a social democracy are
auctions, and John (taxes-ain't-taxes) Howard was not to be outdone by Maddog's
prattle. Your ABC reports that
Little Johnny denies claims that he has broken a previous election promise
that he would not increase taxes. and
Mr Howard says the Ansett levy, and the sugar and milk levies, that he has
introduced were different.
"You do have to see a difference between things like that and straight tax
increases, the like of which I've described, ... between his promise in July of
no new tax increases and the election day," he said.
This is a little bit like celebrity dictator Kim Jong Il's insistence that
all public works in his People's Paradise are built with 'voluntary
labor'. Apparently little Kim has created true communism - a zero tax state. Little Johnny, it
seems, is only slightly behind by creating 'levies' instead of taxes. Go
Johnny! With the highest taxing government in Australian
history still insisting they believe in 'small government', it's no wonder that
Australians are so politically jaded. This could explain why so many
Australians still haven't made a voting decision just five days out from the
election - they feel done over by both parties. It's a bit like bad sex. Sometimes you just close your
eyes and wait for it to be over.
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