I read that Peter Costello said Mr Rudd's proposed tax changes would make us $600 a year poorer.I made a list of my everyday living costs and would you believe,i am poorer to the tune on nearly $2,ooo a year thanks to the GST.I would be saving money if i were to buy cars ,electrical equipment or other luxury items.The wages in this house have not increased by the amount of extra i am paying to survive.I get 5 bags of groceries for the price of 6.When you do the sums,10% of your wage is gone before you even get it.Sit down and tally exactly how much the GST is costing your household and you will be surprised at the figure.Keep in mind that all tradesmen,car repairs,phone, power,insurances,rates ad infinitum have an extra 10% over and above what they used to cost.When we have a CPI rise,on goes more GST.Until you do the sums,you don't realise how much of your hard earned dollar is going down the gurgler.

Since the beginning of time, avoiding taxes has been the aim of those who have the income to pay tax.
Prior to the GST there was a wholesale sales tax on many products that were manufactured but nothing on services. One of the perks of being rich was to avoid paying Sales Tax. It was very easy to accomplish so the rich got richer and the poor paid more taxes.
A nuisance it may be but it is much more difficult to avoid paying GST than it was the wholesale sales tax.
All of the services provided by Government i.e., health, education, roads, railways, water, police and the armed forces are paid for by those of us who pay tax.
The GST has made it more difficult for the rich to avoid paying their fair share of the cost of living in the best country in the world. Well, having lived in Europe, North America and the Middle East, I'd rather pay the GST here than go and live in some dank fetid mosquito ridden third world country where they don't pay taxes.
I'd count your blessings haygirl. I really would.

I agree with you haygirl, but I'm not a wage earner. I am self employed in a small business providing B&B accommodation.
Unfortunately we gross more than $50,000.00 so it is not classified as a hobby, which means I must collect and pay GST.
1. I spend at least a week of every quarter attending to work entailed by the BAS. These approximately 160 hours per year I work for the government as an unpaid tax collector. These hours can't just be snatched from the air, I've had to give up other activities to do this unpaid work.
2. Our accommodation prices have to include GST giving an unfair price advantage to 'hobby' businesses.
Thus the GST became a bed tax on my business but not on all my competitors.
3. Because of the service I provide and the homegrown, home preserved nature of the meals we offer, I can not claim much GST as inputs.

Thus I have encountered all the costs you mention, but have also had my income diminished through unfair competition and have become an unpaid worker for the government. I hate it!

Another aspect is that the introduction of GST didn't get rid of other taxes. For example, petrol excise remained in place and, when GST was added, it became a tax on a tax.

Also, the legalised robbery of 'stamp duty' is still with us. Why do I have to hand over a five-figure-sum to the government for the pleasure of buying a house? Mark Knopfler would call it 'money for nothing'.

why, jack? because they have the courts, cops, and sas on their side. pay up, or do time. unless you slip a little cash in the campaign fund, but that's a different story.

i wonder what they teach ozzies in school, that they arrive in adulthood unable to understand the significance of being a 'subject'. to be fair, in recent years there has been an insistence on using the word 'citizen' instead, as though citizen and democracy were merely modern terms replacing old-fashioned subject and monarchy.

in fact, you don't get from subject/monarchy to citizen/democracy without struggle, usually violent struggle. you don't get there verbally. all you get verbally is 'doublethinked' and 'newspeaked'.

Hi Phoenix94,I am aware of rich avoiding taxes .In some ways they have still come out on top as the luxury taxes have been removed.The caviar and champagne is a lot cheaper now.They still do avoid taxes with all the write offs they claim on their tax returns.I'm poor and am paying more taxes now than ever before.I do count my blessings that i live in Australia but i am pissed off that my living standard has deteriorated because of GST.Thank goodness i make all my own clothes or i'd be running around naked.After the basic neccessities are paid for i now have no money left.No holidays,no going out for dinner and god help me if my fridge or washing machine should blow up.
Country girl,I feel very sorry for your plight and unfortunately the GST can't be undone now.Maybe you should send a bill to the federal government for all the time you spend doing BAS.My daughter did that,(different circumstances)and would you believe,they came to the party.
Jack,were you aware that since the introduction of GST their has been over 130 new taxes introduced.When GST came in we were told "their will be no new taxes."
It doesn't matter who wins this election because the damage is done.
I'm surprised Death Duties haven't been reintroduced.As you say,we are paying taxes on taxes.