Re: [NSW] Carl Scully: "Everytime you buy a train ticket..."

[craigd@lios.apana.org.au (C. Dewick)]

"Hubert Lam" <hubert@imap4.com> writes:

>"...John Howard's got his hands in your pocket"

>Bullshit. It was the states that agreed to the GST...and the money goes back
>to the states!!!

Remember the Booz-Allen and Hamilton report which back in the late 1980's
recommended fair rises around 30 percent in order to cover CityRail's
operating expenses with little or no government subsidisation?

Just say that the government decided to make CityRail depend on itself for
revenue and not give it any financial help, and CityRail said that to cover
their running costs fares needed to rise by about 40 percent? What would you
say then?

The GST *is* going to impact on fares because presently there is no 'tax' on
fares. It doesn't matter where it goes, or who it goes to. The simple fact
that prior to June 30th there will have never been a sales tax on transport
fares, and from July 1st there will be a GST, is the real issue here. So
people are going to cry poormouth, but the very point of a GST is that is
should be applied to everything to make it work - with no exceptions.

The fact that the damned lobby groups have forced the government to exempt
some items is ludicrous because the system now has to be re-inforced to
correct the imbalances caused by the stupid exemptions.

If transport fares were excluded from the GST, where does all that equity
balance out? Basically the ammount of money involved with preventing the GST
applying to transport fares would cause such a large imbalance in tax
revenue flow that eventually a point is reached where so little money is
coming in via the GST compared to what is going out from the federal reserve
that the economy will break down.

You've got to look beyond the issue of why the fares are going up and look
at the new tax system as a whole to work out the flow-on effects of saying
that transport fares should not be rising by 11 percent (and thereby
implying that they should be exempted from the GST). The same people who are
complaining now would still complain about the 2 percent inflation-based
increase, so it's a rather pointless debate IMHO.

Regards,

Craig.
--
            Craig Ian Dewick            |       Stand clear - jaws closing
 Send email to craigd@lios.apana.org.au |  Visit my Australian rail transport
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