Election 2004 | Day 10 | Tax

I scored a mention in the Sydney Morning Herald's election blog! Woo! Thanks to Jess from the entirely awesome ausculture.com for the heads up.

Current Election Odds
Centrebet odds for the election now have the Coalition at $1.45 and Labor at $2.60. I really can't figure out where all this Coalition support has come from; every single person I've spoken to in the past two weeks (without telling them my voting intentions first) has stated they're going either Labor or Greens. Do Coalition voters live underground and only appear on election day? What's going on? Or is it something people are ashamed of and don't want anyone knowing?

Tax Tax Tax Tax Tax: "Ease The Squeeze" Current Catchphrase Of The Day
Labor released their tax policy yesterday, and basically, other than prisoners getting high off redback venom, it's the only thing the media have been focusing on today. I've avoided it really; there's too many figures involved and a lot of it just confuses me. If you want to read the policy, it's on the ALP website and you can make up your own mind. Personally I think we shouldn't be so obsessed with how much money we'll get back under each government and more obsessed with what they're going to do with the money they take.

In yet another fine example of irony, Costello accused the ALP of being misleading. Apparently single-income families with three kids, on less than $30k a year will be worse off. You'd have to be insane to have 3 kids if you were making that much money in the first place. And remember, while there's bitching about lower income earners not getting as much of a tax cut, they don't pay as much tax in the first place.

As for cigarettes costing 29c extra a pack...

Boo.

Fucking.

Hoo.

I work at Target, so I get to see where the $600 One-Off Payment gets squandered. I highly doubt a newborn is going to enjoy a new TV and Xbox, or 27 new bras. Or a stupid amount of makeup.

"I say to any Australian family who might think they could gain under the package, just remember that a rise in interest rates will more than wipe out any advantage you might get under that package."

Howard, still running with the big Interest Rate Lie. He then went on to say that terrorists would blow up the Reserve Bank if Labor was elected, causing interest rate rises. Okay, he didn't but might as well have.

ALP's "27 Lies" Document Now Has An Additional Eight
I haven't checked up on this since it was released, but poking around the ALP site now whilst looking at the tax thing, it appears that an extra eight lies have been added to their Howard tally. Their subjects are:

• Health care
• Welfare
• Overpayments
• Breaching of Parliament guidelines
• Non-independence of the Speaker
• Length of Parliament sittings
• Reforms for Government legislation
• Tax stuff

Open Letters
News Ltd is running an article by David Penberthy, which slags off the open letter by medical professionals, and open letters in general. I thought it was insulting to many, but is still a damn funny article. I especially love the first few paragraphs, they would've taken a while to think up.

Fifty-six of the nation's leading optometrists have written an open letter accusing the Howard Government of having a short-sighted foreign policy and no vision for a fourth term.

Fifty-six cardiologists believe the Prime Minister is heartless, vain and driven by arterial motives. Fifty-six eminent physiotherapists say Howard doesn't have a leg to stand on, while in other news, 56 influential proctologists said simply that they knew an arsehole when they saw one.

As the open letter fad sweeps the nation, patients are following their specialists in issuing public denunciations.

Some of the country's best-connected amputees are up in arms at the prospect of Howard's return. A coalition of leading obsessive-compulsives is releasing an open letter every three minutes, while noted Tourettes sufferers issued a letter so florid in its vituperation that I'll have to show it to you later.

Other Stuff
Web Diary has undergone a revamp, with new stuff appearing at last. The second new article on it is a letter from a farmer to her local MP, outlining her reasons for not voting Liberal. It's brilliant.

There's a good article by Alan Ramsey on the SMH as well, about Howard then and now.

Things I'd Like To See Next Week

• Latham announcing plans for a new TV station featuring all-Australian content
• John Howard just flat out using racial slurs
• The republic brought forth again
• Latham's taxi driver advocating him
• The Debate held inside a steel cage, with Ray Martin as the guest referee

Blogger appears to have imploded. Shit.