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Also, it makes it that much easier for the authorities to nail you if / when they choose to come after you.
(Assuming one hasn't maintained all the paperwork.)

e.g. for those subject to Australian tax law

Barter transactions are assessable and deductible for income tax purposes to the same extent as other cash or credit transactions.

When an entity that is a member of a trade exchange makes a taxable sale to another member, there is a liability for tax, including GST.

From:
Bartering and barter exchanges
Australian Taxation Office
Further reading -> Taxation Ruling No. IT 2668 -- Income tax: barter and countertrade transactions

Also, it makes it that much easier for the authorities to nail you if / when they choose to come after you.
(Assuming one hasn't maintained all the paperwork.)

e.g. for those subject to Australian tax law

Barter transactions are assessable and deductible for income tax purposes to the same extent as other cash or credit transactions.

When an entity that is a member of a trade exchange makes a taxable sale to another member, there is a liability for tax, including GST.

From:
Bartering and barter exchanges
Australian Taxation Office
Further reading -> Taxation Ruling No. IT 2668 -- Income tax: barter and countertrade transactions

But here was the case that really put the final nail in the coffin - so to speak - against gay marriage bans.

Thats awful. Here in Australia gay or straight couples are treated the same for tax purposes as formally married couples.
But formal gay marriage is still a hot political issue, even though it has little practical consequence.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individ...

> Recall I said that it'd be nice if we could buy plans directly and
> bypass our employers,

you know what's even better than that? non-profit public health care.

here in australia we manage to do it with a Medicare levy of 2% of taxable income (with reductions and exemptions for low-income). with that, any australian citizen (and citizens of countries with whom we have reciprocal health-care agreements like UK, NL, NZ and others) can see a GP or go to hospital or have in-home treatment for chronic diseases (e.g. dialysis machine and supplies) without paying a single cent, and with no risk of having our premiums raised or being refused insurance for pre-existing conditions. the risk and expense of health-care is spread over the entire nation. our healthcare is at least the equal of yours but many orders of magnitude less expensive because we don't have a profit conspiracy between hospitals and insurance companies that inflates prices (like charging thousands of dollars to dispense a few dollars worth of pills).

and if we're so sick that we can no longer work, we are still entitled to health care. we don't lose our health care if we resign or get sacked.

we also have the option of private health insurance (comprehensive coverage typically costs around $1600 AUD / year) but it doesn't get you much more than what Medicare gets you - the primary benefit being that you can queue-jump waiting lists for elective surgery by choosing to go to a private hospital.

and all this without employers having the ability to decide whether you deserve health-care or not and, if so, what kind of health-care you get. that's just fucking barbaric.

btw, about that 2% of taxable income...for someone earning the median wage of around $46,900 pa (median for 2013, the latest figure i can find - it won't have increased much in 2 years), that works out to $938 medicare levy per year. for someone earning, $100K, obviously it is $2000/year. both figures are a shitload cheaper than *ANY* health insurance plan available in the US, and don't have clauses that exclude coverage for particular conditions - about the only thing that isn't covered is non-essential plastic surgery...you're covered if you get your face melted in a fire or severely disfigured in a car accident etc but not if you just want a face-lift.

and for anyone earning less than $20,896, they don't have to pay the levy at all...and you pay a reduced medicare levy if you earn between $20,896 and $26,121.

Actually, Australia has similar laws.

See, the introduction of the GST was to coincide with the bundling of a bunch of other taxes into one. For some goods, most notably electronics and "luxury items", they actually got cheaper. This was because it's truly a stealth tax on the poor, by taxing commodities like bread and orange juice (which previously would have been taxed at lower rates or even subsidized),

Bread and orange juice are not subject to GST.

As an Aussie about to move abroad...you got a citation on that?

I combine this:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individ...

With this:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individ...

And conclude that when someone moves overseas they're likely to be an "Australian resident for tax purposes" for the first financial year, and have to pay tax, including on their Australian income from before they moved and probably on their overseas income as well, but after that if they are living overseas full time they'll be a "foreign resident for tax purposes" and only be taxed on income in Australia.

Let me know if you think I'm wrong, it's super-important to me!

As an Aussie about to move abroad...you got a citation on that?

I combine this:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individ...

With this:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individ...

And conclude that when someone moves overseas they're likely to be an "Australian resident for tax purposes" for the first financial year, and have to pay tax, including on their Australian income from before they moved and probably on their overseas income as well, but after that if they are living overseas full time they'll be a "foreign resident for tax purposes" and only be taxed on income in Australia.

Let me know if you think I'm wrong, it's super-important to me!

I'm pretty sure casual computer users still need to pay tax.

Then use MyTax. That'll work for Android as well as Linux computers. E-Tax is a dinosaur.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individ...

This page https://www.ato.gov.au/Rates/I... shows that when the CPRS started on 1st July 2012, income tax was reduced (2012-2013 FY), note the increased tax free threshold.

You claimed the government is increasing the income tax rates for low income earners. They have not and are not. You claimed "I am pretty sure I paid less tax and Wikipedia thinks I did too" and linked to income tax rates on wikipedia, only as you see from the ATO the income tax rates this year are precisely identical to the tax rates last year.

Your other links also fail to make your point.
  - The first link is refering to additional compensatory income tax cuts, not being implemented when it was clear that the planned link to the EU carbon trading scheme would reduce the price of carbon and not increase it as had been forecast.

Which are the "tax cuts" (but never actually implemented) in the carbon tax package that are being repealed. The increase to the tax free threshold is not being repealed, and has never been planned to be repealed.

- The second link shows that the government wants to remove the tax cuts associated with the carbon tax, precisely contradicting your point.

The second link explicitly states that the cuts they are trying to repeal are the ones that Labor had already deferred indefinitely (and thus never came into force in the first place). The increase to the tax free threshold, which you've now switched to claiming is the "tax cut" you were talking about, is not being repealed.

Perhaps next you will try to cast "low income earners" as "over $180,000" so you can spin that the deficit levy is really what you meant?

It rather undermines the social media campaign of "portray Abbott as dishonest" when you are dishonest in how you go about it.

Your link to ATO only shows years in which the CPRS was in operation.

This page https://www.ato.gov.au/Rates/I... shows that when the CPRS started on 1st July 2012, income tax was reduced (2012-2013 FY), note the increased tax free threshold.

Your other links also fail to make your point.

- The first link is refering to additional compensatory income tax cuts, not being implemented when it was clear that the planned link to the EU carbon trading scheme would reduce the price of carbon and not increase it as had been forecast.
- The second link shows that the government wants to remove the tax cuts associated with the carbon tax, precisely contradicting your point.

Not true ?

I am pretty sure I paid less tax and Wikipedia thinks I did too : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

What is the source of your information ?

You're wrong both times.

If you're looking for the income tax rates, go to the ATO, where you will see they are unchanged from previous years.

But in your previous post you claimed that:

As part of the carbon tax package, income tax was reduced, particularly for low income earners as a kind of compensation for the increase in cost of living caused by the carbon tax. The new government is raising those income taxes again, despite promising not to raise taxes.

In May 2013, The previous government's Climate Change minister, Greg Combet deferred those tax cuts even past 2015 when they were originally scheduled to come in. And it is those tax cuts, which had never been implemented that the current government is repealing.

Ok, so what the hell!

A simle tax return hear in Australia done online with the free govermnt sofware ( http://www.ato.gov.au/Individu... ) takes a lot less then that, hell it even data matches your taxfile number and pre fills feilds for you to check, hell it picks up tax decatiable medical expsense that i didnt even relise I coudl of claimed! Add in your work mileage and year type of car, how many uniforms washes you do a year etc.. and your filled and done extremely quickly, and you get faster processing due to online submission.

Done in 1/2 hour, and it tells you how much you are getting back or own then and their as a damm close estimate. You guys have to pay cash for programs for your tax? Sounds like your government really is screwing you, Can you even claim that back on your tax, tax based expenses??

because i have been in the past.

"last year alone, Apple Australia paid only $AU88.5 million in tax, or 0.044% of estimated potential tax liabilities"

implying that Apple Australia made $AU200 billion last year?

Yes you made a mistake. You correctly calculate (88.5 * 0.044) * 100 million or about 200 billion. What you forget though is that this is the tax liability - not their profit. Since the corporate tax rate in Australia is 30% this means their profit was 200 billion / 30 * 100 or 667 billion odd.

American income tax (accoridng to a website on the internet - wikipedia?)
lets take the top 20% of people in the USA, average wage.

All up; earning 264,700 dollars, after all brackets are taken into account, you pay 20.1% tax on that money. (and 21.4% tax on money from dividends and capital gains - whatevs)

But; lets pretend you live in california, which apparently has the suparhugesttaxevar according to some crazy ass tax website.
it puts ontop 13.3% income tax! (its progressive also; but Im gonna make it worst case scenario - they just tax the shit out of everything at 13.3%)

so; those people pay 33.4% tax on their total take home pay! OMG! TAX IS THE WORST IN THE USA

According to some tool I just whacked that income into; the tax payable for a 264,700 dollar income in australia is:
$92,662.00

hmm; compare that number... 0.334 * 264,700 ... 88,409.8 doesn't seem as high as 92,662

And; now you'll tell me property taxes something something, to which I will respond with Australia has to pay rates and bills and shit too. We also have land-transaction taxes; capital gains taxes that get lumped right on top (at the highest rate since you have already earned your lowest rate amounts).

I am not complaining. I am complaining that you dumbass Americans wont let go of the fact that you have to pay taxes. When what you guys pay IS NOT HIGH, and top it off, you guys pay less for petrol than everyone else in the fucking world; you pay less for food than everyone else in the fucking world.

Seriously, YOU DO NOT PAY HIGH TAXES - STOP THIS BULLSHIT.

i don't know how it works in other PAYE countries, but in Australia income tax is deducted from your weekly/fortnightly/monthly pay by your employer and paid to the government.

Withheld tax is calculated based on your pay for that period, with a progressive tax scale (the first $18,200 you earn is tax free).

You are still expected to file a tax return every year, and there are all sorts of exemptions and deductions and expenses you can claim (e.g. if you have children, and you can claim the cost of tools or education required for your work). Deductions aren't subtracted directly from the tax you pay, they reduce your taxable income (e.g. if you earn $50K and have $2K worth of deductions, you pay tax as if you earned $48K). For most people, this results in a tax refund, especially if they spent any time not working or had irregular overtime.

You're also supposed to declare in your tax return any other income you may have received (interest from investments, share dividends, capital gains, etc). For people who make significant incomes in this way, they end up with a tax bill to pay.

e.g. someone making $50,000 in a year would end up paying abut $8600 tax over that year, including the 1.5% medicare levy but not including any deductions. That works out to an effective tax rate of 17% - which isn't too bad considering that it pays for roads, schools, universities, hospitals, police, tax collectors :), army, navy, pharmaceutical benefits scheme (subsidised and price-regulated drugs - pharma companies hate it, people love it. PBS-approved drugs cost a maximum of $35 for a month's supply, but usually less - or about $5 if you're a pensioner or unemployed), infrastructure projects like the NBN, and thousands of other government services. it's not perfect, and money is wasted, and nearly everyone can think of some things that they'd rather their tax money wasn't spent on but the benefits greatly outweigh the cost.

According to the Australisn Gillard Government, a single person who earns over 85k or a couple who earn over 160k are 'wealthy'

  http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.aspx?doc=/content/00233246.htm&pc=001/002/005/016/002&mnu=42738&mfp=001/002&st=&cy=

So, know your tax laws, undrstand your financial status and dont get screwed

If you earn below AU$47,196, you don't have to pay back any of your loan. It doesn't get charged interest, it only gets indexed with CPI.
If you earn above that amount, they start charging as a percentage of your income starting at 4% to a maximum of 8% at an income of AU$87,650

When you get a job, you give over your tax file number, and the payment for the loan is automatically deducted from your wages/salary/etc each pay as part of your payment for income tax. At the end of the year, when you do your tax return if you overpaid they give you back your money, or if you underpaid, they'll send you a bill.

an effective income tax rate of 23.27%

Hi Doc, I trust you and your figures, but fuck me 23% is unbelievably low for millionaires, no wonder the US budget is dripping in red ink. As a comparison here's the Aussie income tax rates, sales tax is 10%, and the top capital gains rate is 30%, there are no other significant taxes that normal people pay. Company tax is ~30% IIRC.

So as a professional on $100K/yr I'm paying a total tax rate of ~35%. However, our budget is balanced, we have a strong economy with low unemployment and I enjoy a good standard of living in my beach house that's 30min from the city, so I have no complaints about paying it. In fact I would love to be on $1M/yr and pay the higher rate.

Sweden is considered advanced in the area of financial management of tax for the benefit of the community. Yes, you may 'pay more' but the result is that Swedish society benefits overall.

One benefit, I suppose, is that the Swedes don't get highly stressed for two to three weeks every year trying to calculate obscure values for their tax return :-)

In Australia it can be less complicated.. the Government offers a program called 'E-Tax' from which you download from the Australia Tax Office, install on your computer, fill in the forms, and submit your tax. If you have only a 'basic' tax return it is very easy, fast, simple and does not require a trip to a tax agent (and the loss of $150 + to have someone review information you collect, to produce a form submission for which you are liable for).

Australia has a Pay As You Go ( http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/pathway.aspx?sid=42&pc=001/003/023&mfp=001/002&mnu=44725#001_003_023 ) which means that for most people the tax you owe is taken out of your wage every pay. So, come tax time, the only question is 'what can I claim?'.

The main problem I can see with the proposition from the article is that much of the 'manual accounting' for which takes place may not be possible to calculate without extensive input. This means that if you have that many laws, with so many permutations then you would need every detail about everyone in the system for the system to calculate the tax for each person. Would Americans allow this? I suspect that they would see it as an invasion of privacy or similar.

I agree that Sweden probably gets the 'better end of the stick'. In the end the money and services flow.. and in the end someone pays. The only question is... Who?

(in relation.. my sig is quite appropriate for this discussion.. :-) )

Sweden is considered advanced in the area of financial management of tax for the benefit of the community. Yes, you may 'pay more' but the result is that Swedish society benefits overall.

One benefit, I suppose, is that the Swedes don't get highly stressed for two to three weeks every year trying to calculate obscure values for their tax return :-)

In Australia it can be less complicated.. the Government offers a program called 'E-Tax' from which you download from the Australia Tax Office, install on your computer, fill in the forms, and submit your tax. If you have only a 'basic' tax return it is very easy, fast, simple and does not require a trip to a tax agent (and the loss of $150 + to have someone review information you collect, to produce a form submission for which you are liable for).

Australia has a Pay As You Go ( http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/pathway.aspx?sid=42&pc=001/003/023&mfp=001/002&mnu=44725#001_003_023 ) which means that for most people the tax you owe is taken out of your wage every pay. So, come tax time, the only question is 'what can I claim?'.

The main problem I can see with the proposition from the article is that much of the 'manual accounting' for which takes place may not be possible to calculate without extensive input. This means that if you have that many laws, with so many permutations then you would need every detail about everyone in the system for the system to calculate the tax for each person. Would Americans allow this? I suspect that they would see it as an invasion of privacy or similar.

I agree that Sweden probably gets the 'better end of the stick'. In the end the money and services flow.. and in the end someone pays. The only question is... Who?

(in relation.. my sig is quite appropriate for this discussion.. :-) )

Food prices are also now controlled by just a few companies in Aussie and this is something you can't go without. It's bad enough that Nike shoes are over the top, but when it's meat and bread it really hurts. The GST is essentially a tax on locally produced goods to which value has been added or service performed. Raw food is exempted from GST, bust processed food isn't so it now seems that Coles and others have found their own GST loophole by importing partly processed food but claiming the exemption. They spend millions finding out how to get around the GST so it seems absolutely hypocritical to bluster on about us buying mountains of sub-$1k items from overseas. I agree with AbRASiON on this - it's not the 10% they're worried about, it's the other 40% on top! See ATO guide on which foods attract GST here - http://www.ato.gov.au/print.asp?doc=/content/18694.htm Just don't know how highly processed brekfast cereals gain an exemption (ask Mr - tax free - Kelloggs/Sanitarium) and of course the sugar lobby got white refined sugar GST-free somehow - can't live without that one :-) The whole GST application is a debacle. But AbASiON's ponit on gouging is valid - just try to buy books online and see what local suppliers think, never mind DVDs and MP3s.

"It seems like every government in the world has something equal to our Social Security Number being used for national identification.

In Australia the Tax File Number (TFN) is similar to the US SSN. However your TFN is used for tax purposes only, not as a catch all national ID. In no way is it connected to passports, drivers licenses, medicare card, ect. In fact it's illeagal to ask for it except for very specific uses.

Yep!

It's amazing to watch how corrupt and self-serving all of the USA's social systems are.
I am absolutely grateful to the people who created the systems here.
They are robust, fair and for the most part resist corruption. That's not to say there arent ways to work the system, but it tends to be small scale, and caught out in time.

Does anything work in the USA?

The Fed is corrupt. I dont think anyone will question that.
Healthcare is laughed at by anyone not living in the USA.
Social security is an oxymoron. It expires for starters which makes the word security redundant.
Education seems quite expensive by world standards.
Education loans, seems quite oppressive.

It's like the people who designed the systems were deliberately trying to find ways to take the most amount of money from people for the least effort.

I invite anyone from the USA to read through our HECS system. It's a damn sight better than yours.
For starters it's not run privately or for profit.

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/53706.htm&pc=001/002/008/013/001&mnu=&mfp=&st=&cy=1

While you're at it, google Centrelink (social security), Reserve Bank of Australia (Federal Reserve), Medicare (medicare/medicaid/etc).

You're all being ripped off blindly.

An extra 1% (or is it 1.5%?) on top of my regular income tax. And that only applies if you are reasonably well off ... those on lower incomes don't pay a cent. Which is fair enough.

Ah I found a link, it is indeed 1.5% of my taxable income: http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/17482.htm

But my post was more getting at the point that, no matter how you end up paying for it, there's no way 10 minutes can possibly be worth 600 bucks.

Well, they didn't give $900 to me. Despite the fact that my income for the year was zero, and all the rest of it. .

Firstly, they haven't given the $900 tax bonus payments to anyone, they don't start till tomorrow. Second, if you earned 0 you paid 0 tax, which means you don't qualify, so obviously you've not read "all the rest of it". Nobody has made a secret of this fact. It's named "tax bonus payment" for a reason; no tax = no payment.

If you want to be skeptical that the govt can deliver a FTTH network, fine, but this is not a supporting argument.

I think you meant the ATO...

i'm not buying that without some kind of credible link. to my knowledge Costello paid off 100 billion in debt after the last labour government,and it took 10 years to do it. as for petrol, you were paying excise which is levied by STATE governments, which were all labour most of howards term. The same goes for stamp duty on houses - state government levied (and yes i have purchased a house). you never paid GST on milk, it was exempt as an essential food item just like fresh fruit,veg and preventative items like condoms http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.asp?doc=/content/13287.htm

as for PAYG, or income tax, we are all paying less tax than ever before thanks to the previous government. Costello lowered the top tax bracket from 68% at 50,000 to 48% at 127,000. the lower brackets had even larger cuts.

yes things like hospitals were left up to private enterprise to expand, i used to work in the medical industry and i can say both private AND government run hospitals are a shit fight. i don't really think more money from the government is going to fix it, it's going to take a reversal of peoples attitudes.

I'm always amazed at the complexities of the tax system in the US (and many other countries).

In NZ, The only Sales tax we have a 12.5% GST Tax (Goods and Services). That's it. Doesn't vary from postcode to postcode. And its included in the price tag of the product, so no needing to figure out the cash in hand price.

There are some petrol excises/taxes, but they're transparent to the user (i.e. built into the price of the petrol) and not deductible.

It's good to be a small country, with no hassles over which state collects the tax, etc...

Australia really botched up adopting GST several years back. They looked at the NZ model, but decided to make exceptions, which are just outright painful. Tax cooked chicken but not raw? But don't tax cold cooked chicken? Yikes! GST Food Guide.

In most cases in Australia you have to keep your personal tax records for five years. If he walks out the door with nothing but his wallet and passport, he had better hope that the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) don't decide to audit him!

In Australia if you earn over $50,000 a year ($100,000 for couples) give or take a few rules.. then if you do not have the minimum level of private health insurance (which normally has a minimum of $500 excess for the hospital cover) then they tax you an extra 1%.

The Australian Tax Office applies the Medicare Levy. This levy is 1.5% of your taxable income. Most people have to pay this. This pays for our system where you have a Medicare coverage service done, eg go to your GP and get charged $50, and Medicare pays back a percentage, eg $25.

Private health insurance in Australia is getting so expensive that the Govt and Private Health insurers now have taken several steps to try and avoid a full revolt by the public. The first is the private health insurance rebate. This reduces all private health insurance by at least 35%. For older people it can reduce it by 35% or 40% depend on your age.

However, what they also do is 'load' your health insurance. If you do not have private health insurance by your 31st birthday then for each year that you are not covered by health insurance they add a loading of 2% per year (when you do join private health insurance). This is called Lifetime Health Cover. It is designed to force 30 to 45 year old people to take out insurance early.

For most people, here is how it works:
You take your taxable income of you or you and your spouse, add or subtract according to the various rules (each child increases how much taxable income you can earn by $1500 per year before they slog the extra 1% on you for not being covered) and you work out how much extra tax you are going to pay anyway. So, if your total taxable income is going to be $65,000 then you are looking at having $650 ripped out of your pocket at tax time. So, you go out and look for private health insurance that will be accepted by the tax office for $650 or less. This means you at least get something out of the money you are going to lose. Usually the something is ambulance cover and minimum hospital cover which limits how much they can charge you for a visit to $500.

This works because it is enforced at tax time. If you cannot prove that you were covered by private health insurance and you earn more than $50,000 then they extract it (pro-rata mind you, so if you are covered for 50% of the year then you only pay 0.5%) from you as part of your yearly tax return.

How about we not go into how the major private health insurance companies in Australia have raised their premiums by ~$5 per year for the last 3 years...

In Australia if you earn over $50,000 a year ($100,000 for couples) give or take a few rules.. then if you do not have the minimum level of private health insurance (which normally has a minimum of $500 excess for the hospital cover) then they tax you an extra 1%.

The Australian Tax Office applies the Medicare Levy. This levy is 1.5% of your taxable income. Most people have to pay this. This pays for our system where you have a Medicare coverage service done, eg go to your GP and get charged $50, and Medicare pays back a percentage, eg $25.

Private health insurance in Australia is getting so expensive that the Govt and Private Health insurers now have taken several steps to try and avoid a full revolt by the public. The first is the private health insurance rebate. This reduces all private health insurance by at least 35%. For older people it can reduce it by 35% or 40% depend on your age.

However, what they also do is 'load' your health insurance. If you do not have private health insurance by your 31st birthday then for each year that you are not covered by health insurance they add a loading of 2% per year (when you do join private health insurance). This is called Lifetime Health Cover. It is designed to force 30 to 45 year old people to take out insurance early.

For most people, here is how it works:
You take your taxable income of you or you and your spouse, add or subtract according to the various rules (each child increases how much taxable income you can earn by $1500 per year before they slog the extra 1% on you for not being covered) and you work out how much extra tax you are going to pay anyway. So, if your total taxable income is going to be $65,000 then you are looking at having $650 ripped out of your pocket at tax time. So, you go out and look for private health insurance that will be accepted by the tax office for $650 or less. This means you at least get something out of the money you are going to lose. Usually the something is ambulance cover and minimum hospital cover which limits how much they can charge you for a visit to $500.

This works because it is enforced at tax time. If you cannot prove that you were covered by private health insurance and you earn more than $50,000 then they extract it (pro-rata mind you, so if you are covered for 50% of the year then you only pay 0.5%) from you as part of your yearly tax return.

How about we not go into how the major private health insurance companies in Australia have raised their premiums by ~$5 per year for the last 3 years...

In theory I thought that it would be a good thing. They brought in a 10% Sales Tax (called GST, Goods & Services Tax) on everything, with some obvious things taxed more (alcohol, tobacco and fuel). The only thing is that they barely lowered any of the income taxes.

They tax us for everything here in Australia. Anything you buy attracts a 10% GST, I get taxed roughly 40% of my income as well.
here's how our income tax works:
http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc= /content/12333.htm&mnu=5053&mfp=001

I think a fairer way would be to just tax people on things they buy. The only way you could really avoid tax (other than becoming a non-profit organisation) is to just save your money and not buy anything. But that won't happen here in Australia.

- paul

http://www.paulpichugin.com.au/

Tax rules for prizes - Australian tax office website, look to the source AC, look to the source.

Most winnings are not included as part of your income.
Australian Taxation Office

You could live in a country that will supply you with free (not Free) software downloadable from the Tax Office website, which walks you through the whole process, step by step, asking reasonably easy questions with decent, context sensitive online help to boot.

Then after establishing your bona-fides with them using details from a previous tax cheque/bill that was mailed to you, it all gets submitted online to them, with the option of a direct transfer into a bank account of your choice once it's been processed.

Beats the hell out of paper or the $70-$100 that tax people charge these days for a basic return.

While you're not doing Australian taxes, I thought I'd mention one of the (rare) good things to come out of a tax office. Last tax return I used the ATO's e-tax software and found it quite useful. It's not exactly pretty but is easy to use and works under WINE once you get IE 6 installed.

Demergers page on Australian Tax Office website

"It is about being cheap.
Take a country with no borders so you don't have to deal with foreigners for the following bit.

If a country had a totally free healthcare system where each person gets the medical aid they need. What need would that country have of an ID system for medical care."

Brilinet, its called the NWO, the only country without boriders one could have would be a united earth goverment, even then im sure the conspircy buffs would tell you aliens walk amounst us accessing our free helthcare, but as australia has not only borders, but we allow ppl who are not citizen into our contry to vist, then we want a way to stop these free loaders diping into our free system.

"There is a reason most countries don't have truly free medical care. It is expensive and requires the majority of people to pay for medical care they don't personally receive.

It is socialism and socialists have high tax bills. That doesn't get you elected anymore."

I like my socialist goverment with a top marginal tax rate of 47 cents.
And the average wage erner ($52,000 IIRC) is in the 30cent range.
http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.asp?doc=/ content/12333.htm&pc=001/003/019/001/006&mnu=601&m fp=001/003&st=&cy=1

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/MarginalTaxRate s.html
note how most countrys have a downwards trend, and note that Australia has kept a downwards trend whilst also implemnting the free medical care, and for mos tof that time having free unis. Though I do have the gripe that these days you only get a verry low intrest lone for your uni, but hay, what do you exprect the govemnt to do when you can go and get a degree in Madona, brinty spears or what ever.

"Do you know how much of your car insurance goes into a general pool that is used by all insurers to cover people without insurance? Yeah, that is right. Your paying for that asswipe who has no car insurance. Nice eh?"

yup, were working on that, compusly 3rd party insurancefor any registerd car.

You download it from the ATO in Australia.
The E-Tax handles the most common things for you. Easy.
http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals

Looking around it seems that I can only claim mortgage interest if I have a set-aside work area for a home business (and only on that room):
http://www.ato.gov.au/print.asp?doc=/content/45586 .htm

Does this apply to you, or are the (US?) tax rules different?

Use the various online feedback forms at the Australian Tax Office that start at this page.

Australia has a very "robust" tradition of political debate.

Here is a copy of an email I just sent to my local member:

Dear Dropkick

I writing to protest the ATO's insistence that I *must*, positively
*must* use Microsoft Windows to file my return electronically.

See http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc= /content/32613.htm&page=14&H14
where it says:

"Can I use a Linux operating system or an Apple Macintosh computer for e-tax?

e-tax is not compatible with Linux or Apple Macintosh computers.
However, if you have suitable Windows Emulator software installed, you
may be able to use e-tax."

This is completely unacceptable. The ATO is mandating the purchase
of a particular product over and above, and in preference to other
similar, competing products.

For completely unnecessary and false reasons.

The Web is *standards* based. There is absolutely no reason for a
website to give a flying one about the clients *browser* (let alone
the operating system or computer hardware involved)

Furthermore, as an Australian taxpayer (who has used the Tax Office's
site in the past), I am outraged because this is a *new* policy.

In the past, the ATO's site *was* standards-based and didn't care what
browser I was using.

And quite frankly the ATO is being cynical and disengenous

"Windows Emulator" WTF???? Even if I use an emulator I still have
to buy the friggin Windows licence don't I? (plus the cost of the
emulator itself)

And while I'm on this rant - just what the hell is wrong with IE or
Netscape on Mac anyway? I have a Mac, and it has IE (and Netscape),
why can't I use it? I also have Linux machines with Netscape. What
on earth is wrong with that?

Oh wait ... I forgot, we signed a "free" trade agreement didn't we?
And I bet it has a secret codicil - the "Bill G" clause: "all your
citizens belong us"

FTA? More like a "freedom for selected US corporates to rape, pillage
and enslave". The ATO - your agency - has just decided to become a
"Microsoft partner" regardless of the best interests, or rather the
disinterest (dictionary word: look it up so you can fully understand
its meaning) of the Australian national interest.

Quite frankly I don't think any member of this government
would know what the national interest was if it fell from the sky and
crushed you under its weight.

I bet you bunch of carpetbaggers think National Interest is a horse
running in the third at Caulfield this Saturday.

Regards

Far more articulate, but far more enraged communication follows (but I
guess you get the point)

But surely you could see many programmers hiding little bugs within the program to make themselves tax free.

What? How? Everyone's tax returns are still processed by the ATO, irrespective of how they're compiled or submitted.

There are so many security risks involved.

There isn't reall. All their e-tax application does is run through a (rather long-winded) set of questions -- exactly the same as what you fill in on paper. It also provides a refund estimate, which it calculates based on the user's input. All of that could be coded by anyone using the paper tax-pack. The only other thing is the actual submission of the completed tax return, which seems to involve a few HTTP requests (enter some details to confirm your identity, get a submission code back, then submit your return using that code) -- and there's no reason that couldn't be open.

The system works pretty well.

Critical information is

Operating system

Windows 98, 2000, Me or XP or Apple Macintosh with suitable Windows Emulator software installed.

Browser

Any version of Internet Explorer 6 or any version of Netscape 7. If you are using an earlier version browser, it must have the relevant 'patches' or high encryption pack capable of supporting 128bit SSL.

The requirements: http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc= /content/32613.htm&page=3&H3 Why in the world do Governments want to be dependent on a foreign company's closed-source proprietary software is beyond me. I understand the need to get the most common platform but supercomplex software projects like Firefox can manage Mac/Linux/Windows (through QT???) - why can't a government? It will save them headaches in the long-run, if the code is written to be portable and platform independent. I get into the same mood when I see a website warning me it's only configured for IE or Active X. What is that BS?

* Email the ATO: http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/c ontent/PA_emailenquiry.html

* Letter Base (the one I used):

I am writing to express my concern over the implementation of "e-tax" in a very specific environment. Your choice to only permit those using Microsoft Windows, or certain emulation software, has placed a disgusting bias over the current market monopolies.

Open Source Software, such as Linux, is attributed with the characteristic of being FREE. To exploit a cliche - free as in speech, as well as free as in beer. By restricting access to only those who can afford Microsoft software, you have placed strains on myself and many others who find themselves liberated of the pressures of proprietry software. I implore you to consider the needs of a wide spectrum of PC users, instead of just those who can afford disgustingly overpriced software, without the need to run _furthur_ software that would likely fail in order to emulate. One possible solution to this is to open the source code up for conversion, and security, by the general population. Either that, or allow a standard protocol for tax returns, so as the general population can code their own software for use with tax returns.

Sincerely Frustrated,
David McKenzie
http://www.freemm.org/

Please note: The contents of this email and any subsequent replies are subject to publishing on mulitple platforms. Please inform me if you do not wish for your replies to be published.

Today I come to you with a sincere request, that should appeal to the self-confessed geeks, and to the socially aware. The Australia Gov't hosts a service known as e-tax to submit your tax return through the Internet, this service has been widely heralded as a success. However, this does not apply to everyone; the educated minority of the Internet world often choose to use alternative operating systems, such as Mac OS or Linux, this software makes claim that you must use an emulator, should you choose to use these OS's. If you know anything about software emulation, you know that it is a difficult task, and one that is preferably avoided. My request is as follows: send an email similar to the one in the furthur text, at the address given, and phone up to register your disgust at this clear favour to global monopolies.

* Complaint Services: http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/c ontent/33746.htm

* Email the ATO: http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/c ontent/PA_emailenquiry.html

* Letter Base (the one I used):

I am writing to express my concern over the implementation of "e-tax" in a very specific environment. Your choice to only permit those using Microsoft Windows, or certain emulation software, has placed a disgusting bias over the current market monopolies.

Open Source Software, such as Linux, is attributed with the characteristic of being FREE. To exploit a cliche - free as in speech, as well as free as in beer. By restricting access to only those who can afford Microsoft software, you have placed strains on myself and many others who find themselves liberated of the pressures of proprietry software. I implore you to consider the needs of a wide spectrum of PC users, instead of just those who can afford disgustingly overpriced software, without the need to run _furthur_ software that would likely fail in order to emulate. One possible solution to this is to open the source code up for conversion, and security, by the general population. Either that, or allow a standard protocol for tax returns, so as the general population can code their own software for use with tax returns.

Sincerely Frustrated,
David McKenzie
http://www.freemm.org/

Please note: The contents of this email and any subsequent replies are subject to publishing on mulitple platforms. Please inform me if you do not wish for your replies to be published.

Today I come to you with a sincere request, that should appeal to the self-confessed geeks, and to the socially aware. The Australia Gov't hosts a service known as e-tax to submit your tax return through the Internet, this service has been widely heralded as a success. However, this does not apply to everyone; the educated minority of the Internet world often choose to use alternative operating systems, such as Mac OS or Linux, this software makes claim that you must use an emulator, should you choose to use these OS's. If you know anything about software emulation, you know that it is a difficult task, and one that is preferably avoided. My request is as follows: send an email similar to the one in the furthur text, at the address given, and phone up to register your disgust at this clear favour to global monopolies.

* Complaint Services: http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/c ontent/33746.htm

* Email the ATO: http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/c ontent/PA_emailenquiry.html

* Letter Base (the one I used):

I am writing to express my concern over the implementation of "e-tax" in a very specific environment. Your choice to only permit those using Microsoft Windows, or certain emulation software, has placed a disgusting bias over the current market monopolies.

Open Source Software, such as Linux, is attributed with the characteristic of being FREE. To exploit a cliche - free as in speech, as well as free as in beer. By restricting access to only those who can afford Microsoft software, you have placed strains on myself and many others who find themselves liberated of the pressures of proprietry software. I implore you to consider the needs of a wide spectrum of PC users, instead of just those who can afford disgustingly overpriced software, without the need to run _furthur_ software that would likely fail in order to emulate. One possible solution to this is to open the source code up for conversion, and security, by the general population. Either that, or allow a standard protocol for tax returns, so as the general population can code their own software for use with tax returns.

Sincerely Frustrated,
David McKenzie
http://www.freemm.org/

Please note: The contents of this email and any subsequent replies are subject to publishing on mulitple platforms. Please inform me if you do not wish for your replies to be published.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO is equiv to IRS) has some e-tax software to help you prepare your tax return (even for more complicated tax returns including rental income, capital gains, business income, depreciation etc). This can either be submitted online or printed and submitted via snail mail.

Unfortunately I think that previous versions have been Windows only but since their corporate stuff is now Java maybe that is where e-tax is headed too?