The John Hyde Archives
Historic archive of articles and newspaper columns written by former Australian politician John Hyde OAM.
Taxation
Retrospective taxation can be fair
- The argument against it is retrospective taxation is the imposition of an unforeseen retribution.
- The party that is liable should have their liability limited to the Crown.
- An individual's liability should be limited only up to the net benefit from the sale of the company.
It's not just avoidance or evasion - just waste
- Tax revenue is almost universally understood as once collected, is wastefully spent.
- Welfare payments are going to those who are neither in financial need or those who have caused their own financial plight.
Labour's stand on sales tax should be queried
- A Tariff tax falls most heavily on necessities of life versus a sales tax which falls most heavily on luxury goods.
Ord River sugar sage leaves a sour taste
- WA consumers subsidise the price of sugar for growers in QLD & NSW.
- The cost of establishing a sugar industry is high and there is no reason why foreign capital be used instead of taxpayer dollars.
A Christmas Carol
- In 72, Gough Whitlam committed Labour to abolish the means test to receive welfare payments.
- It is more important for Governments to be correct than to be popular.
- Governments using welfare payments to buy votes.
Grimes Summit Speech
- High taxation, universal welfare approach is not the best way of coping with poverty and cannot be financed long-term.
- Expectations of a pension discourages saving and investment.
Another Premiers' Conference
- Premiers can make a lot of political trouble for a Prime Minister especially those that are from the same party.
- The Prime Minister has become a convenient whipping boy for state politicians that complain about Federal taxes while saying that the Federal Government's stinginess is not helping with their state's expenditures.
The Budget
- A good budget speech is one that discloses various interests at the first reading.
- Liberals preach free enterprise but practice socialism.
- Families should not be taxed additionally to provide free tertiary education where a student loan would suffice.
Chaney on resource industries
- A resource rental tax is arbitrary as measuring it is impossible.
Taxes and Economic Growth
- High taxes are hostile to economic growth and hence to higher living standards.
- Link between high taxes and lower productivity, lower private consumption and lower life expectancies.
Tax No 1
- The enforcement of taxation is inefficient and has become a vehicle for political favours.
- Consumption and capital gains taxes will fill the void if there is a reduction in personal income taxes.
Tax No 2
- A progressive tax should be a combination of company, income & sales taxes.
- Majority of revenue is coming from income taxes, a tax threshold should be allowed for smaller incomes.
- Too much reliance on any one category causes the marginal revenue to drop as there will be less persons or companies to tax.
Tax No 3
- A new capital gains tax where it taxes only real gains and allowing real losses would improve equity and economic neutrality but would be extremely difficult to administer
- An improvement would be to have a broad-based consumption tax through taxation of an approximation of real capital gains and removing special privileges from the income tax act
Occam's Razor
Taxation Subsidies Politics Economics
- It is remarkable that socialists think that the free world's financial system to blame for third world poverty.
- There is no obligation for a liberal society to tax itself to subsidise conversation & peace movements.
Means Tests
- 3 positions for welfare funded by tax levels
- A pension reduces an incentive to save; high taxes reduced capacity to save
- Irresponsible to discuss universal welfare before eliminating the budget deficit
Tax Payers United
- Narrow interest groups cost their demands by setting aside similar/identical claims made by other groups and ignore the flow on effect.
- Conspiracy to perpetuate the myth of the budgetary free lunch.
- Reduced tax and reduced expenditure must go hand in hand.
Housing Policy
- Housing policies favour owners against renters. There is a considerable tax advantage to owning a home versus renting one.
Farm Costs
Protectionism Taxation Cronyism
- The National Farmers Federation (NFF) wants to the government to have relief for its members but it must be prepared to get the heavily protected dairy, tobacco and sugar industry off the backs of the taxpayers.
The Tax Summit
- The current tax system is inequitable. The best tax mechanisms should mirror government expenses.
Tax, Expenditure and the Summit
- When there is a demand for a tax cut, there is a need to advocate for a specific expenditure cut.
The Sage of a Pipe Line
Fiscal Policy Taxation Politics
- Taxpayers are slugged with the cost of infrastructure projects when the government decides to build a "monument". *Q
Farmer Militancy
- Farmers should not be bought off by policies that might be regarded as income tax favouritism and that everyone keeps their sights on the objective of an efficient free society.
The National Party and The Farmers
Politics Protectionism Trade Taxation
- Australia's trade barriers is costing Australian farmers on average $12,000 annually and is more than fuel taxes, capital gain tax and all other areas of rural complaints.
Oil Revenues
Welfare Taxation Fiscal Policy
- Revenue from the Bass Strait oil fields should be shared as widely as possible instead of being concentrated in unemployment benefits.
The Trilogy
- The trilogy promises are: 1) reduction of the Federal budget, 2) no increase in tax revenue and 3) reduction of Federal budget outlays.
- There is a need to increase investment to meet the trilogy.
What Is the New Right?
Politics Industrial Relations Individual Rights Taxation Fiscal Policy
- Our wishes are to reduce union power, unfair business privileges, balance the government budget, reduced public expenditure and taxes, stopping the middle class from being ripped off, restore competiveness and protection of the family.
Of Taxes and Superannuation
Taxation Superannuation Industrial Relations
- Democracies can slash marginal tax rates if they want to;
- Some people are unwilling or unable to provide for themselves.
- It is the demands of the middle class that make tax reductions difficult.
- Union organised superannuation can be a competitive and safe alternative to high welfare payments and taxes.
The Laffer Curve
- There should have been greater expenditure cuts to compensate for tax cuts on the low and middle-income taxpayers.
The Rocky Horror Show
- The deficit should be reduced by cutting government expenditure instead of raising taxes.
- The proven way to economic success is through deregulation.
The Next Prime Minister
- A leader should be strong enough to make cuts to the deficit and also be strong enough to deregulate and privatise.
Of Unions, Rights and Property
Industrial Relations Taxation Property Rights
- The poorest person has no property but their labour.
- The government's first responsibility is the security of its citizens. Does taxation extend to the right of labour of its citizens?
The Deficit 1987
Economics Taxation Fiscal Policy
- When governments borrow rather than raise taxes, there are several consequences: 1) The young lose, 2) investments drop, 3) The country's credit rating suffers, 4) The police are required to force people to service the debt, 5) Foreign debt accumulates and 6) The government is tempted to inflate the currency.
The Budget
- The government has already implemented all the tax cuts it can afford and avoiding the real issue of expenditure. A good budget that does not achieve surplus of a billion without new taxes is a bad budget
Tax Avoidance & Civil Disobedience
- Some level of tax is needed to preserve society and payments should be made to the needy.
- When levels of taxation are high enough, the people will feel unfairly imposed upon and thus will avoid them.
The National Party and Consumption Taxes
- A consumption tax would encourage saving and investment, remove some distortions caused by the sales tax and reduce tax evasion.
The Motor Car Decision
Taxation Protectionism Cronyism
- The purpose of any protection is to allow goods to be sold at a higher price and has the same purpose as a consumption tax.
- The protectionism affects other industries as it makes them less competitive due to the other industries subsidising the particular industry.
Dawkins Tertiary Funding Proposals
- A graduate tax is not unfair to students as knowledge is a valuable private good.
- The nature of subsidised education creates economic rents.
Tax File Number
- Tax laws are now so complex that no reasonable man may know his liability.
- The Commissioner is using the threat of unknown penalties to frighten individuals into paying their liabilities.
The Liberals Won't Tax Gold
- The economic objection to an industry paying less than its share of taxation is that some other industry will have to pick up the slack and comparative advantage of each industry is ignored.
The Case Against the Tax File Number
- Income tax is intrusive, penalises investment, uncertain and unfair. It should be replaced by a consumption tax.
Corporate Taxation
- Australian investment is poor due to rules discouraging investment. The tax system should be changed to remove the penalties from investment.
The Liberal's Tax and Spending Policy
Taxation Fiscal Policy Politics
- The overall thrust of the policy is pro-employment but falls well short of solutions for the problems outlined. Nevertheless, it is a step in the right direction.
Competitive Federalism
- The public suffers a bigger government than it would had the States be willing to raise their own tax revenue as the Federal government is able to raise more taxes than the individual States.
Oh! Where Have All the Industries Gone?
- The lesson is blatantly obvious. Businesses and skilled labour are mobile and are increasingly becoming more so. Governments that do not offer a commercial environment that are attractive as any other state stands to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Income Tax
- Although a consumption tax is a better tax base than income tax, it is difficult to administer. The best solution would be to minimise government spending.
Cut the Deficit and The Crap
- Tax cuts are highly desirable but only if a budget deficit is eliminated and government expenditure is reduced. A reduced deficit is a future tax cut.
Why Privatise
- Only when public companies are sold that taxes are paid in meaningful amounts.
Taxing Investment
- To reduce our foreign debt, we need to increase our savings. However, the government subsidises those that don't save by providing pension and penalises those that do by increasing the tax rates.
Education
Education Taxation Competition
- Education is a private benefit which the government subsidises by using taxpayer's monies. It is time we allowed all schools to compete on equal financial terms and allow parents to select their child's education.
The Davis Report
Protectionism Regulation Taxation
- Statutory Marketing Authorities (SMA) has the power to tax producers. If the minister intends to regulate the market to make it efficient and just, individuals must be able to opt out of SMAs and SMAs also be subject to the Trade Practices Act.
Tax, Slender and Privilege
- Tax avoidance is inequitable other than intended by parliament but isn't illegal. Politicians who use parliamentary privilege to slander the character of those who practice tax avoidance are cowardly.
Nanny's Security Blanket
- The government uses our taxes to "educate" us with the government subsidising certain groups to tax payers for their mistake and imposing their will on what we can and cannot do.
Taxation
- Income tax law reflects government extravagance and years of successful lobbying by vested interests. If the Labour government were serious about tax avoidance, it would start by cleaning up the income tax act which favours the more powerful vested interests and best organised voters.
The Argyle Diamond Float
- The government did not make a profit when it sold its shares in the Argyle Diamond venture. The taxpayers were the ones that subsidised the purchase of shares and enabled tax avoidance by guaranteeing investors a fixed return.
MIM Annual Report
Business Competition Regulation Taxation
- The mining industry is loaded with infrastructure costs which are not asked of other competing sectors of the Australian economy. In order for MIM share price to increase, there will be a need to reduce high levels of industry protection and reducing state taxes.
The Election Result
Politics Budget Taxation Economics Fiscal Policy
- The election campaign extracted three promises from Bob Hawke: 1) no tax increases, 2) no increase in government expenditure without economic growth and 3) reduction in the budget deficit.
About
John Hyde OAM is a former Australian politician. He was elected as the member for the Division of Moore in Western Australia for the Liberal Party.
John Hyde OAM is the author of Dry: In Defence of Economic Freedom.