Thumb up or down
Thumb up or down: Things I'd like to see more of, and things I'd like to see less of (or stopped altogether).
Dislike: Special-case tax legislation.
Case in point for greenslip insurance for car registration:
"Tax invoice green slips will cost more than standard green slips. If an Input Tax Credit can be claimed on the GST component of the premium, insurers will not receive a tax credit when claims settle. Insurers will also incur additional administration costs in implementing the GST legislation."
No! It's not supposed to work that way - there should be a flat rate charged, which people can either claim back or not claim back, depending on whether that money was spent as part of an income-producing enterprise. You don't get to ask people what it's for, and then decide that they should be charged more if they're using it in a certain way - that violates a basic premise of streamlining the tax system, which is why Australia undertook tax reform in the first place.
I'm not aware of any other industry that bills (or is legally ALLOWED to bill) in this way.
Deep Dislike:
The US detainment of individuals in the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, whereby people have been jailed indefinitely with no formal charges against them after being tagged with the made-up label of "enemy combatant."
My key objections to this are:
- It is simply immoral - if these people are accused of a crime, then try them in a court of law like every other person accused of a crime, and if they are not accused of a crime (or if there is insufficient evidence) then set them free.
- It sets an appalling precedent. The US has taken people from other nations, and forcibly brought them without extradition or charges being laid to be held in the US for an indefinite period of time. Would the US accept a foreign country coming to the US, taking it's citizens by force, without extradition or changes being laid, to be detained and interrogated indefinitely in that foreign country, then to face the death penalty for an ill-defined crime, in a closed military court where the normal rules of evidence, presumption of innocence and due process do not apply ? If the answer is no, then you are clearly doing something wrong.
- We already know for a fact that awful mistakes have been made - completely innocent people have been held in Guantanamo Bay for extended periods and subsequently set free, and two people have been killed during 'questioning' (categorized as 'death by homicide' by the American's own pathologist). How much more has to go wrong before the American government accepts the bleeding obvious - that they can, will, and have already got it wrong, and that therefore they NEED due process ?
- You don't protect or strengthen democracy by behaving illegally and ignoring due process. On the contrary, you weaken it, and devalue the very concepts of justice that you claim to be upholding.
Update: Saw that someone else also wrote an article on this topic here, and another one here.
Like to see: A levy of 5 to 25 cents on plastic shopping bags. [Such a system currently operates in Ireland]
Like to see: A deposit system (e.g. 5 or 10 cents deposit) on drinks containers to economically encourage recycling and collection of waste containers. [Such a system currently operates fine in South Australia]
Like to see: Anti-spam legislation in Australia, with teeth (legally enforceable penalties).
The war in Iraq being linked to "the war on terrorism".
Western forces are in Iraq on the precursor of combating terrorism generally, and Iraqi links to Al-Qaeda
