What cheeses me off

[MARTINE]

That's a new one. I thought an investment had to be income producing to be eligible for capital gains. Very sneaky of the government. Tax on tax on tax.

But thank you for making me check. I want to sell an investment unit but have been waiting until I retire to reduce capital gain tax but seems that I can just stop renting it and then put some of my furniture in the place and send mail there for 12 months and capital tax avoided.

Of course if you make no profit on your 2nd property when you sell @JohnK you wont pay CGT. You can even claim deductions you may get a refund… but I am assuming like most of us the aim of the purchase was profit not loss or - worse - negative equity.

 

[Pushka]

Of course if you make no profit on your 2nd property when you sell @JohnK you wont pay CGT. You can even claim deductions you may get a refund… but I am assuming like most of us the aim of the purchase was profit not loss or - worse - negative equity.

Not a refund but a CGT loss to put against any future CGT profit.

 

[andye]

Tax is never a popular thing on AFF* and...@JohnK, you may feel that you pay enough taxes but the total tax take on Australia funds (amongst other things):

1.An Army, Navy and Air Force
2.A Police force, ambulance and fire service, coastguard and border security
3.A legal system which by international standards is fair and not corrupt
4.A public hospital/health system which has world class outcomes
5.A subsidy to see other medical practitioners outside the public system
6. 3 Layers of government which by international standards is not corrupt
7. A democratic process such that you can vote out those politicians if the majority of Australians agree
8. A public service to administer
9. A social service safety net for Australians on hard times due to unemployment, disability or illness
10. A pension for life and subsidised nursing home care if your savings are insufficient to provide for your retirement
11. A (public and private) school and university system including funding for research
12. A system of roads and public transport
13. Some public housing


If you divide up the total tax expenditure by all the adults in Australia then it works out about $50k per person

A majority of people couldn't afford that tax bill to be part of the "Australian club" so they are subsidised by higher earners (progressive taxation), businesses# and the GST.

Investors are essentially a (small or sole-trader) business and the Australian people have decided (for now) that they should be taxed on their profits (including CGT) but have also granted a generous 50% tax concession on capital gains and also allowed for business deductions at full marginal rate.

(* And I do acknowledge a personal bias in that a large proportion of my income is derived from taxation. However, lucky as I am to be in a high-earning profession, my personal tax bill only covers the salary of one senior nurse)
(#It should be noted that the high earners and businesses benefit enormously from a stable democracy with an honest police and legal system by having: enhanced earning opportunites; a pretty affluent population who are unlikely to riot due to poverty and who can afford their products/services; and a government who would be unlikely to be able to seize their assets on whim)
[Edited to include pension which is one of the biggest line items, schools, roads and GST]

 

[Mr_Orange]

generous 50% tax concession on capital gains

Note that this only kicks in if the CGT event occurs after 12 months of ownership. If you buy some shares, for example, and sell them 11 months later, you will pay CGT on the full profit.

 

[MARTINE]

Not a refund but a CGT loss to put against any future CGT profit.

Yes
My main point being a tax on profit - still means a profit was made - which is aim in the first place
The reverse is not

 

[RooFlyer]

WCMO are TV programs that are over-dramatised to the point of being dishonest.

SBS show on tonight about the rise of antibiotic resistant infections. Scientists in Melbourne are trialling a 'new therapy' ("Phage therapy") that will revolutionise treatment. About to treat the first person. Ooooooh!! Sampling from sewage works ... Wow! Not.

One of the scientists decides to get a tattoo of a phage.

Bacteriophage treatment has been done since WW2 in the USSR/Russia. If you are interested: https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/emmm.202012435

We got lectured on it at Uni in the early 1980s.

I recall seeing a program where the Russian facility could easily select a bacteriophage in their 'store' to treat a specific infection. I wonder if the Australian researchers are doing the best for their patient if they try to re-invent the wheel??

 

[andye]

WCMO are TV programs that are over-dramatised to the point of being dishonest.

SBS show on tonight about the rise of antibiotic resistant infections. Scientists in Melbourne are trialling a 'new therapy' ("Phage therapy") that will revolutionise treatment. About to treat the first person. Ooooooh!! Sampling from sewage works ... Wow! Not.

One of the scientists decides to get a tattoo of a phage.

Bacteriophage treatment has been done since WW2 in the USSR/Russia. If you are interested: https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/emmm.202012435

We got lectured on it at Uni in the early 1980s.

I recall seeing a program where the Russian facility could easily select a bacteriophage in their 'store' to treat a specific infection. I wonder if the Australian researchers are doing the best for their patient if they try to re-invent the wheel??

I remember learning about phages at med school in 1989. A researcher (I assume from same Melbourne group) was on ABC radio two nights ago. The show started egging on a "groundbreaking trearment" but he was upfront about the soviet use and was pushing the randomised trial aspect

 

[MARTINE]

Ok.
I am ready with my shield to protect me from the brickbats!!
Those charity organisations that accost you waaaay before you even get near a supermarket and then proceed to shame-splain you for not stopping and listening/donating as you walk past.
Performative charity
I donate a lot to many organisations and a fund a scholarship for my old school
Dont need this

Ok
Ready
Aim
Fire

 

[Mr_Orange]

Ok.
I am ready with my shield to protect me from the brickbats!!
Those charity organisations that accost you waaaay before you even get near a supermarket and then proceed to shame-splain you for not stopping and listening/donating as you walk past.
Performative charity
I donate a lot to many organisations and a fund a scholarship for my old school
Dont need this

Ok
Ready
Aim
Fire

I agree. "Charity Muggers" cheese me off too.

 

[cove]

Mrscove has always handled donations and I was headlong handling business. Now we talk a bit more about it.
We get quite a bit home delivered so we get less issues @MARTINE.
Mrscove dislikes Santa Monica in California with its car free zone as it has many looking for donations.

 

[Pushka]

Ok.
I am ready with my shield to protect me from the brickbats!!
Those charity organisations that accost you waaaay before you even get near a supermarket and then proceed to shame-splain you for not stopping and listening/donating as you walk past.
Performative charity
I donate a lot to many organisations and a fund a scholarship for my old school
Dont need this

Ok
Ready
Aim
Fire

i was going to post the same earlier this week. Every single day they are there.

 

[JohnK]

Those charity organisations that accost you waaaay before you even get near a supermarket and then proceed to shame-splain you for not stopping and listening/donating as you walk past.

I have thick skin.

I'm also a firm believer of charity begins at home. I don't have the time to listen to their spiel nor the money to donate.

 

[dajop]

The increasing use of the term "Fireside Chat" in corporate circles .... just annoys the cough out of me.

 

[Gremlin]

A few years back I was on the Advisory Board for <well known charity>. When approached by a charity mugger, I'd inform them of that fact. I'd tell them that I would very happily match any donation they made to <well known charity> with an equivalent donation of my own to their charity. Not one of them took ever took me up on the proposition.

 

[Mr_Orange]

The increasing use of the term "Fireside Chat" in corporate circles .... just annoys the cough out of me.

I know, it conjures up images of nice Winchester wingback armchairs, a crackling fire and a glass of whisky whereas the reality is some static mugshot on Teams because the 'boss' doesn't want you to be able to see that they are also doing something else!

 

[Mr_Orange]

a pretty affluent population who are unlikely to riot due to poverty and who can afford their products/services; and a government who would be unlikely to be able to seize their assets on whim

Give it a few more years and this might not be such an accurate statement.

 

[ellen10]

I have been looking at booking a Qantas hotel for a few weeks. So yesterday decided to get it ticked off my list finally.

Of course get the Qantas email today to say that there is a triple points promo. Sigh!

 

[Lynda2475]

I dislike Charity muggers immensely. Any organization that employs these paid harassers immediately goes on my list of organizations not to support.

When I was at university I was mauled by one of those wilderness society koalas walking through the pedestrian tunnel at Central station. Turns out the person inside was someone I went to school with, I was horrified to learn from her that she was being paid $30/hour (in 1996) when sometimes she didn't even collect $30 of donations in a whole shift. Dodgy as.

Also if they rope you into a subscription donation, its harder to cancel than a gym membership, and they often prey on those least able to afford to donate. No very charity minded.

 

[Lynda2475]

I have been looking at booking a Qantas hotel for a few weeks. So yesterday decided to get it ticked off my list finally.

Of course get the Qantas email today to say that there is a triple points promo. Sigh!

If it has free cancellation, cancel and rebook.

 

[VPS]

Old lady rant - just went for a walk and came back down a nice road. The council have done a great job at planting things and this woman was sitting on a bench while her kids pulled up plants and then proceeded to have a fight with them. When I challenged her she told them to put them back in the ground but didn't really GAF - FFS as if they are going to grow back when the kids have ripped them up and smashed them.