Hi Alan, you got the rant a bit wrong mate.

Despite assumptions that the rich pay little tax, the data actually tells us a different story. According to the ATO's Taxation Statistics 2019-20 , 31.6 per cent of all tax collected comes from those earning $180,001 or more.

An even larger percentage that do pay no tax at all after government subsidies are the low earners.

Basic maths, analysis and demographic awareness are not the strong points of many....

The people who support: "96% recommend immediate re-introduction of national service" need to do national service themselves, why?

If it's such a good idea (not) why wouldn't they do it? However, they ignore demographic decline i.e. the working age cohort passed the 'demographic sweet spot' pre Covid, followed by lower fertility but preceded by the baby boomer 'bubble' now transitioning to retirement.

However, that does not preclude mass (re)training, but would need to include authoritarian rule and Soviet like planning.....

Hasbeen
There's a bit more to the taxation issue.

While it's true the rich pay more income tax overall, the indirect tax burden falls proportionally more heavily on the poor. The rich have more ways of minimising income tax and unlike the poor, don't generally spend all their income.

The entire income of the poor is therefore more heavily subjected to paying GST and the various fuel, tobacco, alcohol and other levies regardless of how that income is obtained.

Agree rache, the GST & fuel taxes are obscene, we did rather stupidly vote for the GST, & fuel tax is a hang over from when fuel was so cheap that a percentage of it was almost nothing.

I see nothing wrong with taxing the hell out of tobacco, alcohol & gambling should be included, as they are voluntary taxes, easily avoided.

However as it is the low income earners who most heavily use government services such as health & transport it is reasonable that they contribute towards the cost of such services.

Hasbeen

Fair enough, but the wealthy and Corporations also rely on many Government services - as well as the Police and Armed Forces to protect their property and Hospitals as well as roads to transport their goods plus essential infrastructure to keep them in business but somehow many seem to avoid contributing. Some are even paid subsidies by the taxpayer and the average wage earner can't get paid via off-shore tax havens or via Family Trust structures.

Also GST is entirely paid by the consumer and not those further up the chain, who can claim refunds for any GST charges incurred providing goods and services.

The tax system overall is disproportionate but it's not likely to change.

The Jobs Summit was never about cooperation between the business and the unions but a fig leaf to cover up a predetermined union biased change to labour legislation

Alan,

The spot price of Uranium is about US$100 per kg whereas platinum is about $30 000 /kg

Enriched uranium is obviously far more expensive, but the cost of fuel in a typical reactor is about 0.02c per kWhr including the cost of disposal. i.e. about 0.2% of the cost of power production.

While thorium is far cheaper, the cost of the reactor is far higher, with many of the corrosion issues still unresolved.