Auspol January 2015: bad neoliberal hangover thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol January 2015: bad neoliberal hangover thread

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

It's a new year! Full of promise and wonder! Tony Abbott is still running the country! :suicide:

Edit: much better singalong.

Once a scummy Liberal
Camped by a parliament
Using the law to get power for free
And he said to his mates who he gathered in that parliament
Who'll come and gently caress up the country with me

gently caress up the country
gently caress up the country
You'll come and gently caress up the country with me
And he said to his mates who he gathered in that parliament
You'll come and gently caress up the country with me

Down came a budget
To revenue that parliament
Up jumped the Liberal and grabbed it with glee
And he laughed as he snuck that budget to his crooked friends
You'll come and gently caress up the country with me

gently caress up the country
gently caress up the country
You'll come and gently caress up the country with me
And he laughed as snuck that budget to his crooked friends
You'll come and gently caress up the country with me

Up rode the Senate, tearing up his budget bills
Down came electors one two three
Where's our loving budget you hid for your crooked mates
You'll go and gently caress up the country for me

gently caress up the country
gently caress up the country
You'll go and gently caress up the country for me
That's our loving budget you hid for your crooked mates
You'll go and gently caress up the country for me

Up cursed the Liberal and dashed to a revolving door
"I'll sit on boards for a fat salary!"
And his whine can be heard cos he's now a Murdoch columnist
He hosed our country and got off scot free

gently caress up the country
gently caress up the country
He hosed our country and got off scot free
And his whine can be heard cos he's now a Murdoch columnist
Who'll come and gently caress up the country with me

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ewe2 fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Jan 3, 2015

# ? Jan 1, 2015 14:15

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# ? May 6, 2024 00:18

CROWS EVERYWHERE: Dec 17, 2012; CAW CAW CAW; Dinosaur Gum

gently caress 2014, gently caress Tony Abbott, gently caress Australia. t :mad:

# ? Jan 1, 2015 14:18

Divorced And Curious: Jan 23, 2009; democracy depends on sausage sizzles

Possible good things upcoming (electorally speaking) in 2015:

* In NSW, redistribution has delivered a seat basically custom-built for the Greens, and our candidate there is pretty loving good too. We could potentially double our representation in the NSW lower house, and maintain or (if we're lucky) increase in the upper house!
* In Qld, an election will happen. That's... about as optimistic as one can get, because Queensland.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 14:35

Divorced And Curious: Jan 23, 2009; democracy depends on sausage sizzles

CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:

gently caress 2014, gently caress Tony Abbott, gently caress Australia. tt

also this. buys planes, country is fukt

# ? Jan 1, 2015 14:36

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

ewe2 posted:

It's a new year! Full of promise and wonder! Tony Abbott is still running the country!

Noice.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 14:39

TheIllestVillain: Dec 27, 2011; Sal, Wyoming's not a country

CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:

gently caress 2014, gently caress Tony Abbott, gently caress Australia. tt

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:07

sick of Applebees: Nov 7, 2008

Yay QLD election!

God I hope Campbell gets the boot :ohdear:

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:10

CrazyTolradi: Oct 2, 2011; It feels so good to be so bad.....at posting.

SeekOtherCandidate posted:

* In Qld, an election will happen. That's... about as optimistic as one can get, because Queensland.

The obvious prediction for the QLD election is that the LNP will just slide through, but they won't have Newman with them after. At the very least there might be some actual kind of opposition, as opposed to the less than a dozen members in opposition we currently have.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:26

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

Sir Joh 2, Joh Harder.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:29

Sparticle: Oct 7, 2012

Hung parliament with John Bjelke-Petersen holding balance of power. It is what we deserve.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:32

Schlesische: Jul 4, 2012

SeekOtherCandidate posted:

* In Qld, an election will happen. That's... about as optimistic as one can get, because Queensland.

Can't wait to see a mishmash Katter, Palmer, Hunters and Fishers and/or Motorists grand coalition government in Queensland. Then they can really get started moving everything further back to the 50s.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:33

Turks: Nov 16, 2006

Sparticle posted:

Hung parliament with John Bjelke-Petersen holding balance of power. It is what we deserve.

Don't you put that evil on me!

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:46

drowned in pussy juice: Oct 13, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

CrazyTolradi posted:

The obvious prediction for the QLD election is that the LNP will just slide through, but they won't have Newman with them after. At the very least there might be some actual kind of opposition, as opposed to the less than a dozen members in opposition we currently have.

QLD definitely does not "do" present or efficient state oppositions. The lack of a senate aside, QLD politics is pretty much just 90% inarticulate rambling about our lovely failing health system and people really do not give a gently caress so the government has always just sort of done whatever it wants and people wait some arbitrary amount of time until they start talking about the pendulum effect or some other dumb poo poo and then presto

I actually have a real good vibe about the election, i'm uninformed enough to actually think its winnable for the ALP but they're such a reactive clusterfuck at the moment that I'm probably just delusional.

Also it seems like the LNP is actually doing a really good job of just not doing anything incredibly stupid in the lead-up but i've actively stopped reading the courier mail for the sake of my mental health and there's really not much information about QLD politics in any sources apart from awful murdoch rags so I can't really pretend to know much about what's actually going on a state level

drowned in pussy juice fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Jan 1, 2015

# ? Jan 1, 2015 15:49

Shanakin: Mar 26, 2010; The whole point of stats are lost if you keep it a secret. Why Didn't you tell the world eh?

Everyone I have spoken to is pretty eager to turf Campy, it's just that no one has really shown up as opposition yet. If there's a QLD ALP opposition leader at the moment, they're quieter than Shorten.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 16:38

CrazyTolradi: Oct 2, 2011; It feels so good to be so bad.....at posting.

Shanakin posted:

Everyone I have spoken to is pretty eager to turf Campy, it's just that no one has really shown up as opposition yet. If there's a QLD ALP opposition leader at the moment, they're quieter than Shorten.

The issue with this mostly is media coverage. QLD Labor currently gets pretty much gently caress all, and the Courier Mail spruiks the LNP as the saviors of QLD, despite the Reef dying a horrible death and coal prices plummeting like brick. We apprently have a four pillar economy, which is basically coal, coal, coal and coal, so we're pretty much hosed in the budget department which means if LNP do win the next election, the state public service will be sliced and diced more than a pizza topping.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 16:49

The Before Times: Mar 8, 2014; Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.

Shanakin posted:

Everyone I have spoken to is pretty eager to turf Campy, it's just that no one has really shown up as opposition yet. If there's a QLD ALP opposition leader at the moment, they're quieter than Shorten.

It's Annastacia Palaszczuk. She does actually try to come out with statements and be oppositiony, but I don't think the media like her a) because courier mail is murdoch and b) because they probably can't pronounce or spell her name and that makes them uncomfortable.

e: Crazy our four pillars are Coal, Coal, Coal, and Tourism.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 16:53

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Tourism is dying a slow death along with the reef. No, the way politics is always done in Queensland is to smother opposition, which takes some help from the MSM but really banks on the apathy of the populace. Governments truly lose elections in Queensland, there's no way for oppositions to get any air-time unless the MSM agrees the government has to go.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 17:45

hambeet: Sep 13, 2002

Just a quick update for you all. It's 2015 and Victoria still owns.

Carry on.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 20:29

Zenithe: Feb 25, 2013; _{Ask not to whom the Anidavatar belongs; it belongs to thee.}

Schlesische posted:

Can't wait to see a mishmash Katter, Palmer, Hunters and Fishers and/or Motorists grand coalition government in Queensland. Then they can really get started moving everything further back to the 50s.

Would still unironically be better.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 20:46

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

Sparticle posted:

Hung parliament with John Bjelke-Petersen holding balance of power. It is what we deserve.

This is a fate worse than death.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 23:08

Readman: Jun 15, 2005; What it boils down to is wider nature strips, more trees and we'll all make wicker baskets in Balmain.

These people are trying to make my party into something other than it is. They're appendages. That's why I'll never abandon ship, and never let those people capture it.

Shanakin posted:

Everyone I have spoken to is pretty eager to turf Campy, it's just that no one has really shown up as opposition yet. If there's a QLD ALP opposition leader at the moment, they're quieter than Shorten.

FWIW Labor party people I know reckon she's done good work internally - in rebuilding the inner workings of the party and repairing links with the trade unions - but think she could work on her media presence.

Calling the likely outcome of Qld election as a minority LNP government (with no Campbell Newman), resting on whatever nutters get elected.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 23:22

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Is this the world's hardest quiz? Identify the leaders of each state or territory's opposition (Guardian)

It's out of date now (thanks to Victorian election, and Robertson's return to the primordial ooze), but even as a political tragic I found it hard.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 23:26

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

I reckon the ALP will win QLD, tbh. Just because I want them to.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 23:32

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Another day, another Abbott failure:

quote:

A key plank of the Abbott government's employment strategy is on the cusp of failure, with just over 500 job seekers so far joining a scheme meant to benefit 32,000.

The $10,000 Restart incentive was unveiled in Treasurer Joe Hockey's May 2014 budget, the latest bid to tackle a policy area that has long vexed both sides of politics: how to encourage employers to hire mature-age Australians.

Moments after the budget was handed down, Employment Minister Eric Abetz said Restart "more than delivers on the government's 2013 election policy commitment to lift workforce participation and improve quality of life".

It was projected to help up to 32,000 people annually.

However, Senate documents show employers have hired only 510 job seekers through the scheme in the five months since its July introduction.

There are nearly 175,000 Australians over 50 looking for work through Job Services Australia.

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-po...101-12gdb3.html

Also this should get your year off to a cheery start:

quote:

Four days out from Christmas, Blind Citizens Australia (BCA), Deaf Australia, Homelessness Australia and Down Syndrome Australia learned they were to be subject to federal government funding cuts.

New Social Services Minister Scott Morrison assured concerned parties that frontline services to the disabled would not be cut, just grants to these and other organisations advocating for the homeless and the disabled.

While one BCA � Blind Citizens Australia � did not fare so well this yuletide, another BCA � the Business Council of Australia � did quite nicely.

Only a week earlier, the government had back-flipped on a proposed tax avoidance reform (Section 25-90) entailing some $600 million in tax deductions that multinational companies could claim on interest on their debts in offshore subsidiaries.

As it turned out, the "stakeholders" with whom the government had "consulted" before it made its decision were the big audit firms (whose best clients are the multinationals) and assorted peak bodies such as the Minerals Council of Australia.

Clearly the voice of assorted business lobbies is being heard more loudly and more clearly in Canberra than the likes of Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia or the National Council on Intellectual Disability and Physical Disability Australia � two more subjects of the Christmas cuts to social welfare.

In the investment world, the typical product disclaimer runs like this: "Past performance is no indication of future returns." The same might be said of government but if last year's performance is any indication, social welfare will be under siege this year while corporate welfare will proceed apace.

While the government has held firm against advances from the likes of Qantas and SPC Ardmona, who were chasing cash handouts (the former suddenly bounced back as oil prices dropped, and the latter received help from Victoria), it has not managed to bring a single meaningful reform to stem the flood of Australian company profits being transferred offshore via aggressive tax avoidance schemes.

The talk has been hot and heavy, the action measly.

Of its two major tax reforms, the abolition of the carbon tax and the abolition of the mining tax, the greatest beneficiaries are multinational mining companies, the great majority of whose shareholders reside overseas.

The decision not to remove the 25-90 deductions is the next most meaningful fillip for multinationals. The others � not proceeding with reforms to the offshore banking unit regime, tax compliance measures, and dumping changes to multiple entry consolidated groups � add up to a further $500 million on Labor's estimates.

This reporter is no expert on not-for-profits. These advocacy groups for the homeless and disabled are funded by the taxpayer and there may be some fat to cut. We don't know. What is certain is that organisations representing the most disadvantaged in our society do not give political donations, nor, as demonstrated above, do they hold even a fraction of the sway in Canberra enjoyed by those representing the most powerful.

The corporate tax rate in Australia is 30 per cent yet a host of multinationals � with income of billions of dollars a year � pay nothing near the statutory rate, and that is after transferring collectively billions of dollars in profit offshore with the likes of interest on loans to their foreign associates.

Their peak bodies and their advisers, the big accounting firms, are the very ones who command the government's ear.

Originally, the back-flip on 25-90 was buried with little explanation on page 117 of the MYEFO statement. Later, upon inquiry by Fairfax reporters, the Treasurer's office revealed the decision was made after "consultation with stakeholders".

Upon further inquiry still, these mystery "stakeholders" were unveiled:

"Advisory firms (read the Big Four audit firms),

"Mining, energy and resources industry representatives (read Minerals Council of Australia),

"Finance, property and manufacturing industry representatives" (read other vested interests keen to keep their share of the $600 million tax break)

"Various industry peak bodies" (read other rent-seekers with their arms outstretched for corporate welfare at the expense of ordinary citizens and small business people).

In the lead-up to last year's federal election, the Coalition promised to kick off the "next wave of comprehensive" tax reform with the delivery of a white paper in its first term in government. This is expected to drop in the next couple of months, and it may surprise. Yet the government's track record on caving in to vested interests does not augur well.

Taxing take on definitions
Also shortly before Christmas, the Minerals Council of Australia was up to its old tricks as it sallied forth with yet another report despairing of all the tax and royalties its members were forced to pay.

It is a good thing the Minerals Council does not represent the forestry sector as well as foreign-controlled multinational mining companies or they would be lobbying to chop down the trees for free.

Having just had a win when the government abandoned the 25-90 anti-avoidance provisions, the big miners' peak body was again busy conflating tax with royalties.

"Conducted jointly by the Minerals Council of Australia and Deloitte Access Economics, the survey finds the tax take ratio in that year was 47.1 per cent. This is the highest recorded level since the tax survey was inaugurated ... No longer can this industry be seen as a honey-pot for short-term revenue raids."

What is this mysterious "tax take ratio"? If you delve into the report you will find it is a ratio concocted by dividing royalties and tax by taxable income (before royalties).

Royalties are not taxes. They are a payment a company is required to make for the pleasure of extracting minerals from the ground � gold, copper, coal and the like � things that belong to somebody else, namely, the people of this country.

If this peak body was representing foreign agribusiness rather than foreign miners they'd be in a state of high indignation about having to pay for their cattle and their wheat. They would be bewailing it as a tax.

Nowhere in the Minerals Council's report was an actual tax figure mentioned. Conveniently, it was all about ratios. Had they deigned to include the actual numbers these would have shown the amount of tax paid by mining companies was dropping sharply. Commodity prices are down, profits are down, therefore tax is down too, sharply.

Needless to say, nowhere in this report could be found the tax contribution of mining companies to government revenue, which is around the 3.4 per cent mark. Nor is there any mention of the $4.5 billion per year in taxpayer subsidies to the mining industry such as the diesel fuel rebate and assorted tax breaks for exploration and so forth. That is the real honey-pot.

Plundering to continue
Finally, in light of vigorous denials by Treasurer Joe Hockey to Fairfax Media reports that the removal of the Section 25-90 provisions amounted to a back-flip, it is worth noting that the central rationale for the decision was that "compliance costs" would be too high. This defies all logic because if you remove something, you longer have to comply with it or even have a compliance regime. It is gone.

Further to the denials, this from former tax office expert on withholding tax, Martin Lock:

"The Treasurer fails to mention that the so-called Australian company 'penalised' if s.25-90 were repealed may be an Australian resident subsidiary company of a foreign-based corporate group. Section 25-90 does not discriminate according to the residency of the ultimate shareholders of the so-called 'Australian company': any company incorporated in Australia (done simply) can access the concession that the section offers.

"The failure to repeal s.25-90 will continue to allow a foreign-owned Australian resident company to claim tax deductions for interest paid on debt borrowed from related offshore entities and used to earn s.23AJ tax-free dividends. These are dividends arising from holding 10 per cent or more of the voting interest in shares that the resident company has in offshore companies. The deductions are claimable against any assessable derived from the company's Australian operations, reducing its overall Australian taxable income, even down to nil if the debt-loading is big enough.

"This practice is 'profit-shifting', and the failure to repeal s.25-90 will continue to allow at least some foreign-based companies to go on plundering Australia's tax base in this way, claiming all the while to bring to this country the benefits of foreign investment."

Happy New Year.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/a-taxing-tale-of-two-peak-bodies-20150101-12gcty.html

# ? Jan 1, 2015 23:43

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

Capitalism is a failure and will only lead to a scorched earth.

# ? Jan 1, 2015 23:52

Cartoon: Jun 20, 2008; poop

Sorry to load you up on Arsetralian but:

They're reading my mind posted:

Doc�s advice to PM: give up the bike before you have an accident

'Accident' heh heh

TONY Abbott should ditch his early-morning cycling for a less risky exercise routine because �one day he�ll come off�, says doctor Graeme Killer, the official physician to five prime ministers. Dr Killer, who retired on Christmas Eve after attending to every prime minister since Paul Keating, told The Australian he wished Mr Abbott would take up a less accident-prone way of keeping fit. �This bike riding, you know as a doctor I see all the accidents coming off bikes and one day I think he is going to have one too,�� Dr Killer said.

Sower of false hope Dr Killer :argh:

This was reported elsewhere but posted:

2 Jan 2015 The Australian SID MAHER NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

Welfare to work drive has zero gain

WELFARE-TO-WORK programs promoted by federal governments over the past decade have failed to have any substantial effect on the pool of about one million Australians not in work. Research by the country�s leading demographer reveals the extent of the economy�s shift from an unskilled to a skilled workforce � and the political challenge of finding jobs for the long-term unemployed. Peter McDonald, professor of demography at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, said analysis showed the net effect of welfare-to-work programs was �zero�. The proportion of men aged between 25 and 54 who were not in the workforce had not changed from about 9-10 per cent from 2000 to the present day, he said. �Even though successive governments have had major welfare-to-work programs, the net effect is zero,�� Professor McDonald said. �The problem with Australians out of work is a problem of lack of skills in an increasingly skilled labour market.��

Work-for-the-dole initiatives were first introduced by the Howard government in 1998. They were toughened in 2006 and have been used in various forms by both Labor and Coalition governments. The Abbott government has cracked down on eligibility for the disability support pension, to ensure people capable of working do so, and is seeking Senate backing to toughen access to unemployment benefits. Tony Abbott announced an earn-or-learn initiative under which people aged under 25 would no longer be entitled to receive Newstart and those under 30 would have to wait six months to receive the benefit. The measures have failed to win support from Labor or the crossbench in the Senate. The Rudd government maintained so-called mutual-obligation policies, although work-for-the-dole numbers fell under Julia Gillard premiership. Professor McDonald said unskilled male workers were the first hit by a downturn and welfare-to-work programs did little to prepare them for economic shifts. �They haven�t developed the skills to allow them to adjust to the changing nature of employment,� he said.

Research by Mark Wooden from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research has found that unskilled workers make up a shrinking proportion of the workforce. Labouring jobs dropped from 12.9 per cent in 1993 to 10.8 per cent in 2008 and 9.8 per cent in 2013. Over the same period, professionals� share of the workforce increased from 16.9 per cent in 1993 to 20.9 per cent in 2008 and 22.1 per cent in 2013. Overall, the workforce share of the lowest skill levels dropped by 3.4 points to 22.5 per cent between 1993 and 2013, while the share of jobs requiring top skill levels increased 5.5 points to 24.6 per cent. Professor McDonald�s work found growth in jobs had been narrowly focused, with only seven of 19 industries accounting for 80 per cent of additional jobs between 2009 and last year. Nearly 40 per cent of jobs growth was in health, social services and education. Healthcare and social services recorded the biggest increase of 193,000 jobs for an annual growth rate of 3 per cent. It was followed by education and training (113,000, and annual growth of 2.6 per cent) and mining (110,000 and annual growth of 10.8 per cent). Jobs in �other services�� rose by 65,000 during the period for an annual growth rate of 1.4 per cent while accommodation and food rose 59,000, or 1.6 per cent, a year. Calculations performed by Professor McDonald, using Australian Bureau of Statistics data, show migrants have been playing a crucial role in filling job vacancies as the workforce increased by 800,000 between June 2009 and June last year. Migrants in that five-year period accounted for 600,000 of the increased employment while 330,000 jobs went to workers older than 55.

About half the increase in jobs for workers older than 55 was attributable to people in that age group staying in work longer, the other half was attributable to the growing number of people in that age group, Professor McDonald said.
This meant that for workers who were not migrants and were not aged over 55, there were 130,000 fewer people employed at the end of the same period. Much of this could be attributed to people aged under 25 staying longer in tertiary education. In the same period, unemployment rose by 11,000. All of this net increase could be attributed to middle-aged women taken off the sole parents pension and placed on unemployment benefits. With no expected future growth at the younger ages of the workforce, Australia would have to rely on migration for any increase in employment, but migrants were not taking jobs from unskilled Australian workers, Professor McDonald said: �The types of jobs skilled migrants are getting are not jobs these Australians would get.��

# ? Jan 2, 2015 00:08

starkebn: May 18, 2004; "Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"

If companies have to report their finances to the stockmarket to make themselves look good to investors, why doesn't the ATO jump on those figures and ask for 30%? Or is it all of the concessions etc that let the big companies run their bill down?

# ? Jan 2, 2015 00:20

tithin: Nov 14, 2003; [Grandmaster Tactician]

starkebn posted:

If companies have to report their finances to the stockmarket to make themselves look good to investors, why doesn't the ATO jump on those figures and ask for 30%? Or is it all of the concessions etc that let the big companies run their bill down?

What they report to the stock market, is generally their after tax profit.

# ? Jan 2, 2015 00:22

starkebn: May 18, 2004; "Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"

Right, so they're basically just dodging the taxes because 'loopholes & concessions' rather than crying poor performance

# ? Jan 2, 2015 00:31

tithin: Nov 14, 2003; [Grandmaster Tactician]

starkebn posted:

Right, so they're basically just dodging the taxes because 'loopholes & concessions' rather than crying poor performance

Correct.

Don't forget, sometimes companies straight up loving lie, or fudge figures to look better than they are.

Supermarkets are particularly egregious about this.

# ? Jan 2, 2015 00:36

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

starkebn posted:

If companies have to report their finances to the stockmarket to make themselves look good to investors, why doesn't the ATO jump on those figures and ask for 30%? Or is it all of the concessions etc that let the big companies run their bill down?

Suppose the Australian branch of Weyland-Yutani made a profit last year, but also has a large outstanding loan to another arm of Weyland-Yutani, located in a tax haven (eg Ireland). The loan repayments can be used to offset the Australian tax bill.

BEPS / transfer pricing is a shitload more complex in reality but that's an example of how it can work.

Doctor Spaceman fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Jan 2, 2015

# ? Jan 2, 2015 00:40

starkebn: May 18, 2004; "Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"

So many reports and articles about "We could be getting sooo much more tax if we did this thing and this thing" and yet it never happens.

Go politics 2015! Mo money, mo bitches!

# ? Jan 2, 2015 01:02

Kegslayer: Jul 23, 2007

starkebn posted:

If companies have to report their finances to the stockmarket to make themselves look good to investors, why doesn't the ATO jump on those figures and ask for 30%? Or is it all of the concessions etc that let the big companies run their bill down?

Its mostly to do with timing issues and the way that revenue and expenses are recognised.

In theory, most of the differences and concessions should be pretty legitimate but in practice, its cheaper just to hire a Big 4 firm to develop a reasonably arguable position and then drown the ATO in lawyers, tax partners and paperwork if they try to contest it.

Even the figures reported to ASX aren't perfect and while regulatory bodies like ASIC or the ATO know about all the dodgy tax schemes and transactions companies do, they work with a limited budget and its not financially viable for them to go after people or companiea at the big end of town unless they're really sure they can win.

# ? Jan 2, 2015 01:05

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

Basically big companies are the real rorters in Australia.

First you get the money, then you get the power, then you buy the government.

Junkee article on Tones and his terrible year: http://junkee.com/heres-all-the-times-tony-abbott-screwed-up-got-yelled-at-or-was-generally-terrible-in-2014/47939#tpcbAl55sKIcC498.99

hooman fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jan 2, 2015

# ? Jan 2, 2015 01:38

I would blow Dane Cook: Dec 26, 2008; Can't post for 5 days!

Someone get tony a motorbike.

# ? Jan 2, 2015 02:30

i got banned: Sep 24, 2010; lol abbottwon

I got so drunk I left a house without saying goodbye to everyone

I blame Tony Abbott

# ? Jan 2, 2015 02:31

Birb Katter: Sep 18, 2010; BOATS STOPPED
CARBON TAX AXED
TURNBULL AS PM
LIBERALS WILL BE RE-ELECTED IN A LANDSLIDE

I stayed sober NYE and spent all day yesterday at a beautiful swimming hole in a remote bit of bush. I forgot to bring a knife for the brie and had to just rip chunks off.

I blame NTATA for making me forget the knife.

# ? Jan 2, 2015 02:44

pray for my aunt: Feb 13, 2012; 14980c8b8a96fd9e279796a61cf82c9c

tithin posted:

Don't forget, sometimes companies straight up loving lie, or fudge figures to look better than they are.

Sometimes?

# ? Jan 2, 2015 02:56

ungulateman: Apr 18, 2012; pretentious fuckwit who isn't half as literate or insightful or clever as he thinks he is

Trip report: It's 2015, queensland is still poo poo

also i am actually on fire right now, it's a pleasantly lower temperature than being outside

# ? Jan 2, 2015 03:07

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# ? May 6, 2024 00:18

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ungulateman posted:

Trip report: It's 2015, queensland is still poo poo

also i am actually on fire right now, it's a pleasantly lower temperature than being outside

Can't say I enjoyed my time in QLD late 2014 either, for similar reasons

# ? Jan 2, 2015 03:31

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol January 2015: bad neoliberal hangover thread

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They're reading my mind posted:

This was reported elsewhere but posted: