Lugwig, Part I

Believe it or not, income tax is not a perquisite to modern society. It was only introduced around approx 1914 in western societies to finance wars or certain emergencies and then only intended on a temporary basis.
At that stage, law and order existed in society, people didn’t die of malnutrition or (to any significant degree) live under lean-tos in public parks. The big difference in standards of living of the poor compared to now is due to the state of technological development rather than political status quo.
A big thing at the time was non-profit NGOs such as benevolent societies, sometimes organised around professional associations, whereby members paid a modest amount per month, did some voluntary work now and again, and then could call upon them if they suddenly found themselves in straightened circumstances such as losing their job etc. Also churches and other organisations such as Rotary, the Freemasons etc were big in the welfare stakes. All of them being non-bureaucratic and part voluntary staffed meant that they could operate on a lot less funds that government social services run on today.
As is typical of most government decisions, when more taxes were to be introduced back then, the dumb decision was to go with taxing income instead of expenditure. So what happens: there is no great incentive to work harder or to enterprise because the more you earn the more tax you pay. (Unless of course you deal in the black market) But there is an incentive to blow you money on indulgences beyond the essentials because they are free of tax.
If it was the opposite the natural greed of people would be an incentive to work harder or longer. With their discretionary spending money, they could either have it taxed when buying booze and fast cars or not taxed when investing it in a home or the stock market.

Ludwig Part II

Abolish the income tax and services tax. Tax goods for sale plus an extra tax on booze, tobacco, fuel, electricity (easy to collect and keeps pollution/green house gases minimal) and water (Hey we’re running out of it anyway, so why not increase the price so as to maintain supply.)
Gradually phase out all government welfare (especially middle class welfare: the ABC, govt grants to academics, artists, businesses that go broke whether or not the owner is related to the PM, and farmers) and let it return to the providers who manage it much more efficiently.

Interesting stuff Edward.

I would be in favour of whatever system of taxation was most effective in providing funding to properly provide all the necessary infrastructure and services to the community and to get us to change our habits in line of the absolute imperative to become a sustainable society.

Beyond that, I’m not too worried about how it might be done, as long as it as fair as possible.

I can’t see that income tax really affects the incentive to work harder and longer. Afterall, as your income increases, you may pay more tax, even disproportionately more tax as you get into higher brackets, but you also take more money home. And besides, is working longer and harder necessarily a good thing?

I believe in high taxation and in strong state-owned or state-funded utilities. I’d hate to see the ABC go by the wayside, I would love to see funding for various academic and scientific pursuits greatly increased, and even though the arts and sport leave me pretty cold, I would like them to be well-funded.