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A PERSONAL COMMENT ON:-
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NOTE The following comments, highlight other issues in addition to those I wrote about the Country Fire Service. The intent is to bring to the attention of the public the impact on the rural community, and indirectly the metropolitan communities, of the shortage or in-adequate RESOURCING and funding provided to these and other volunteer organizations. NEW TAX STRUCTURE (GST) (Australia) One issue that came to light while information gathering to write the article on the Country Fire Service, was the rural communities concerns over the impact of the Government introduction of GST (Goods and Services Tax). The Commonwealth government promised that the introduction of the GST would not cause an increase in fuel costs, particularly to the rural sector. However, based on information provided to me, I have been advised the government actually and deliberately increased excise duty just prior to the introduction of the GST, arguing a CPI increase. This meant an immediate windfall of increased tax for the government due this increase and plus the subsequent GST increase. The fuel industry has added its portion of the GST, claiming increased oil prices, thus increasing the tax yet again. That overseas oil prices have increased has not been questioned and it is agreed to be outside of the government control. Ignoring the local tax issues, the government concentrates on using the overseas price increase to flim flam the public, arguing this as the real cause of the fuel increases. A question comes to mind, why do we export oil, fuel and gas if we have to import it? PEGGING OR REDUCING EXCISE DUTY The community has asked the government to peg the excise or even reduce it but has been told that it is out of the government hands. Nonsense!!! Governments control the level of excise it imposes, not overseas oil cartels. Any government can easily reduce or even waive the level of excise charged and let the community benefit in reduced fuel prices. Yet it has refused to peg or to reduce the excise. the previous governments added a tax to the fuel to improve roads but we believe most of this just goes into government coffers and little in proportion is spent on the road system. I have also been told that this tax was not removed when the government added the GST. POSSIBLE OUTCOME OF INCREASED FUEL COSTS A very serious possibility was brought to my attention!! A possible outcome expressed to me during discussions with the rural community, is the fact that previously many farmers owned more than one vehicle and now believe they are being forced back to only one vehicle. Should this happen, then it could have a serious impact on fire fighting ability of the rural community and this could have very serious consequences. POSSIBLE SCENARIO Let's look at a possible scenario. Supposing a property owner is forced to rely on just one car. It is likely to be used as a work vehicle with the possibility of it being used to go to town weekly, fortnightly or even monthly to purchase food, clothing, materials, attend sales, pay bills, etc. POTENTIAL PROBLEMS Now we come to the crux of a potential problem. Supposing the farm/family vehicle has gone to town on business and a fire breaks out. A farmer receives a call to attend the fire, but is forced to advise he cannot come, as there is no vehicle available for him to come to the fire. The only alternative would be for someone to pick him up. The question! Is someone available to pick up this farmer (volunteer fire fighter). After all they are nearly all in the same boat. Remember, we are speaking about farming properties, which in Australia can be many miles (kilometres) apart. Hence it is possible that there is no one available to come to the farmer to pick him up, due to a severe emergency caused by the fire. Other lives could be endangered and they must take first priority, before the farmer can be picked up and taken to the fire. I believe this is a national issue, needing to be addressed by government, at a national level, as well as a local issue. Fires in Australia cost the economy highly with the loss of life, stock, fences and buildings, etc., plus the loss of income. Anything that affects this further needs to be addressed. the government has built a huge treasure chest of increased tax gains through the GST. Item which were never taxed are now taxed. Human Services, Hospital and medical services, Telephone accounts, Public Utilities, Food and so on. What we need to be aware, is that they made all sorts of promises before the last election and then went back on them once elected. I gues I may be accused of cynicism but I would expect them to do exactly that again if re-elected. Anyway you can rest assured the the funds will never replace the loss of the services or the long term damage done to the country. � � NOTE 2: Well I never!! I note with a sense of wonderment; or is it really cynicism:) November, 2000. Wonder of wonders. As a result of public outcry the government has suddenly discovered that a windfall bonanza in increased revenue as a result of the GST on fuel being far greater than anticipated. While the government is saying it will use some of this to reduce debt, it is also prepared to use some of it to pay for rural roads maintenance. Personally, I doubt that the proportion used for roads and road work will be great in proportion to revenue the government has collected, especially to replace the years of neglect. The statement that the government will use some of this money to reduce debt is also an admission that the moneys collected are not being used for the purposes that they were collected for. NOTE 3: It is now February and the Auditor General has advised parliament the government had siphoned off some $6B from the road taxes and used them for other purposes. The government hurriedly denied this, claiming it had really spent something like 6.5 cents on road works???? At the same time it admitted it has used some of the money for Health and Education. Why? I had already claimed to have set aside separate funds for this very purpose. We are still waiting to see the extent of where this money has gone. The Federal government is blaming the States, claiming they have not spent the money appropriately and the States are blaming the Federal government claiming they have yet to receive the funds. Forgive Prof's cynicism. Previous governments had imposed a 2 cents per litre on fuel to fund roads and road maintenance. However very little of it was used to maintain or build roads, but went into internal revenue. Also I believe it was not rescinded on the introduction of GST was introduced. So in effect the government has collected twice for the same purpose and also added a 10% increase on top, plus the normal 10% GST calculation. If we examine it further, the government said it would not add a 10% to an existing tax. Well??????? Questions that comes to mind are:- Why has the government suddenly found this money to do road works, when previously it denied that funds were available? Is it because it is close to an election? Since the introduction of the GST, the government has generated funds far exceeding its expectation; welllll..... its official expectation :). What a wonderful way to build a war chest to try and buy votes. :) Where will it be spent? In electorates in government marginal seats? Or will it spend any of these funds in other areas, even opposition seats? If so in what proportion? It would appear to be more logical for the government to put this sudden funding bonanza into developing a roads policy in the National interest rather than potential gerrymandering (vote buying). This only results in a short term political solution for vested interests. Even so, the final outcome will also depend on the election outcomes, as the government will not be making this money available in total before the election. The community will receive finds in accordance with its vote buying capacity, I suspect. Funding outcomes will depend largely on where road funding fits into the policies and priorities of a new government. Whether this is the old government re-elected or a new one from the opposition. No doubt if the old one is returned it will claim the community has given it a mandate to carry on as before, not on the basis of their promises. Most of the people who vote for them will be influenced by the promotion and marketing the government will promote just before the election. It made so many promises before the last election, e.g. it stated it would not privatise the Tele-communications system, yet a few days ago it came out publicly and admitted it would continue to plan for the full privatisation of Telstra. It had run a strong campaign not to privatise this and other public utilities. Immediately after the election it broke its promises and is selling off public assets hand over fist to raise money for its own agenda. Experience has shown that these sorts of government promises seem to be soon forgotten after an election, whether the government or opposition gets elected. While these comments are personal beliefs, I believe they are worthy of a closer look because they are also the public's comments. I wonder why politicians are not trusted any more? Prof. would be quite happy and delighted to be proven wrong in his speculations but, these are not only his thoughts, but remember the rural community has also expressed these speculations. A question asked by the community today is "where are the dedicated an honest politicians and if there are many, why are they not in a position to protect the interests of the community. �
� Worldwide Copyright John W. 1998,2001 �
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