Re: State Rail - No, State Joke. [NSW]

["Bradley Torr" <truenorth@one.net.au.SPAMTRAP>]

Tezza <tezza2000@dingoblue.net.au> wrote in article
<3b15bcca$0$25513$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au>...

> Very different (and better) than a state government trying to do the
> impossible and tax Sydney Metrop residents.

Why not? If the Federal Government can have a system of rebates for
personal taxpayers depending on which part of the country them live in
(remote areas), then why can't the State Government add, say, a Public
Transport Tax to residents within the 40-odd Metropolitan Sydney boroughs?
What's stopping the state government from taxing different parts of the
state differently, commensurate to the level of services and capital works
spending in those various regions, seeing as the federal government sees
fit to do much the same?

This is one reason why I support a Greater Sydney Council, as is found in
the large English cities - or possibly a county form in Government, like in
the United States. The metropolitan government would have the power to levy
sales, income and property taxes to pay for public works of a metrpolitan
nature. The Greater Sydney Council could run the buses (screw the Bosnjaks
and the like, westies deserve better), CityRail suburban trains, the fire
brigade, Sydney Water, etc. etc. This is unlikely though, as the higher
levels of government are extremely reluctant to give the levels beneath
them any power over taxation whatsoever. John Curtin's emergency
commandeering of income tax in 1942 was just that - a wartime provision.
Australia is the most fiscally imbalanced federated nation in the world,
where states and municipalities have very little control over themselves
and must go cap-in-hand to the higher levels of government. The GST is good
in that respect (no, no rotten tomatoes please!) as it gives the States a
secure and steady funding base to run our railways, schools, police
service, etc. And don't get me started on how weak local government is here
compared to other countries!

This would end the situation we now have, where taxpayers in Broken Hill,
Batemans Bay and Boggabilla subsidise state-operated buses, state of the
art hospitals, etc. in Bondi, Balmain and Bilgola. Have local control and
local taxation for local infrastructure and transport projects. I'm in
Wollongong, why should I pay taxes to run buses in affluent Inner Sydney
while my local privately owned bus company provides abysmal and deficient
service? Why should my parents in Batemans Bay pay to run a railway system
that doesn't go anywhere near their place - not even a Countrylink coach!

> Dismantled? Hardly. Reduced from 6.2% to 6% with no indexation of the
> threshold in 6 years.

At least it's not company tax - from 49% to 30% in a little over a decade!

Regards
BT