Yabby

"Ozzie, too right they would! You are trying to judge the world
from your particular perspective of life. Just look at how many
Aussie expats live overseas now. I gather its around the million
mark. Places like Singapore, Hong Kong, etc are full of them,
usually highly skilled individuals, paying very little tax in
those countries. When they finally return to Aus, they are commonly
financially loaded to the max."

Everyone judges the world from their own particular perspective. Yes there may be many expats living OS, but there may be many varied reasons for them doing this. I met a few recently, and all of them did this just because thats what their jobs required. The most recent one I met was working in dubai as a migration agent. He hated the place and couldn't wait to get home. Sure he made alot of money, but thats not the reason he was there. I just wonder how many move their whole lives OS just to save on tax?

Yabby," Try and screw the goose that lays the golden eggs and she will go elsewhere." You have no perception of who the actual goose is.Don't look in a mirror.It is not Wall St or the Global Banksters that keep you in this comfort zone.It is the hard work and creativity of ordinary folk.

Currently they are again trying to make the masses pay for their GFC.There will be blood in the streets in the USA if they do not put the ponzy scamming thieves either in gaol or in their place.

The USA is on a knife edge with good reason.Wall St and the Federal Reserve have robbed the people.That, no one can deny.

*I just wonder how many move their whole lives OS just to save on tax?*

Ozzie, there are invariably many little reasons which make one good
reason. Tax is one raised constantly. Mind you, if your suggestion
of 80% tax as in Sweden was taken up, I'd be pretty sure that there
would be a flood, claiming it as an extremely good reason!

If you think that people will work their butts off to have Govt
take 80%, you are highly mistaken. People basically act out
of self interest, ignore it at your peril.

Arjay, your posts are becoming more and more confused, I am afraid.
On another thread you claim that Americans are becoming lazy and
could achieve alot more, you imply that the masses should be working
much harder. Now you claim that its ordinary folk that are doing
all the work.

I'll pay more attention to your posts, when they start to make
even a scrap of sense. That is not the case right now

Yabby,
"Ozzie, there are invariably many little reasons which make one good
reason. Tax is one raised constantly. Mind you, if your suggestion
of 80% tax as in Sweden was taken up, I'd be pretty sure that there
would be a flood, claiming it as an extremely good reason!

If you think that people will work their butts off to have Govt
take 80%, you are highly mistaken. People basically act out
of self interest, ignore it at your peril."

This is actually the whole point of the tax. I agree with you that few people would work more once they have achieved a salary of 200k if they knew the marginal rate from then on is 80% or so. In the book i referred to above it went into great detail about how at levels of income above around 50K most people are reasonably satisfied with their income and other factors besides money become more important (relationships etc). In other words people on 3m are not really any happier than those on 2m etc. The high marginal rate above around 200k acts as a very strong disincentive to limit the rat race that life has become. Above I mentioned that humans are very status conscious animals competing to see who earns more. This tax attempts to curb this urge. Remember a tax above 200k or so really affects a very small % of the pop, and they are really not any less happy. Compare this with the redistributed money to poorer people who now benefit and for example may be lifted out of poverty to a reasonable income. The book shows how the increase in happiness by lifting many people from say 20k to 50k is many times greater than the loss of happiness experienced by the very well of that get cut back to 200k or so. Thus society as a whole is better off.
Basically the whole point of this tax was to stop the continual race for more and more income once a person has achieved a reasonable life.

I know and have experienced life better than these Posters who obviously have only worked in business backgrounds, or blinded by their narrow experiences with the broader communities taking the view that "everyone has a choice to further themselves".

Non-factual. Life is not black and white. There is plenty of grey in between; as all of us worldly people know and live.

My parents as business owners and brother in his business, know that without the sacrifices and fantastic contributions of their employees, the businesses would not be flourishing or made the fantastic profits over many years and they reward their employees accordingly paying the highest dollar possible to retain their excellent employees. If Unions had power today; their businesses would not receive a 'Union visit'.

A significant difference and problem arose in Australia for employees when the old strong unions lost their power. Most people who are not tertiary qualified or hold a degree or relevant certificate in their work are not paid according to the work and sacrifices made. Work experience, work history and merit should be acknowledged and employees rewarded. This has not occurred for 15 years in my residential state. Complaints of ill treatment and low wages in many industries, businesses and some areas of the public service outlined.

Also, many people are not given the opportunity to complete their studies and/or attend university as a result of family obligations both in their immediate families, and later on in their married life.

Australians have medical conditions that make studying and qualification to further themselves out of the question and backgrounds where stereotyping and lowering of self esteem played a large part in what would have been a more highly paid future.

There are validated reasons for people being unable to obtain a tertiary qualification or qualify academically; regardless of correspondence courses and/or university.

Btw I forgot to make the point that many kids leaving school these days are quite illiterate in relation to basic maths and english. A good portion of the blame kids and adults are unable to 'further themselves' lies within the Education Departments' curriculum over a good 25 year period.

Technology is another factor that has impacted and caused negative changes with school leavers today who could have been high income earners.

Many kids are unable to 'further themselves' as a result of their lower passes and unstable home life/environment;instead opting for lower paid wages and careers. Choice is not an option for many kids these days.

Add technology and the reduction in kids and people reading books, writing, and being creative; and,no,choices are reduced significantly.

Do not forget that these 'uneducated' kids and adults' are now competing with highly qualified academics from overseas also.

Many factors come into play regarding low income wage earners.