Voters feel over-taxed and ripped off

Australians are increasingly concerned they are over taxed and not receiving value for their dollar in public spending by government, many say fuel price rises are due to the carbon tax. Picture: Thinkstock/ Wavebreakmedia Source: Supplied

Australians are increasingly concerned they are over taxed and not receiving value for their dollar in public spending by government, many say fuel price rises are due to the carbon tax. Picture: Thinkstock/ Wavebreakmedia Source: Supplied

AUSTRALIANS are increasingly concerned they are over taxed and not receiving value for their dollar in public spending by government.

In another blow to the Gillard government's ability to sell its message, the annual Per Capita Tax Survey shows almost half of all Australians households believe they have received no compensation from the carbon tax - when around 90 per cent of households have received some sort of recompense.

And the carbon tax is directly blamed by 54 per cent of respondents for higher petrol prices - despite their being no levy on fuel.

The survey found the Coalition's negativity and call for "no more big new taxes" is clearly resonating with the electorate as as the majority of Australian believe the balance of tax and spending is not treating them fairly.

Despite Australia's position as the fifth lowest taxing regime in the OECD, almost 60 per cent of respondents surveyed stated that Australia was a "high-taxing, big government country".

Australians are becoming increasingly concerned about a potential shortfall in their retirement income with 63 per cent complaining their superannuation would not be enough.

Overall the survey shows that most Australians believe they pay too much tax, especially among the highest earners above $150,000, while support for increased spending in health, education, social security, defence and foreign aid have slumped, albeit from high levels.

David Hetherington executive director of Per Capita, a progressive think tank, said Australians want to see a greater level of prudence from the government.

"Households are saving aggressively for aged care and school fees - things that used to be covered by the government and they are disappointed they don't see similar prudence from the Federal government," he said.

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How Italian voters sent markets plunging

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi almost got re-elected sending markets into a frenzy. Picture: File Source: AFP

THE Italian election sent European stocks plummeting overnight. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi almost got re-elected, sending all the austerity measures implemented by Mario Moni into doubt.

A shock election result on Monday showed a surge in support for comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment campaign, as well as surprising support for former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

It is an indication of just how interconnected global markets are that the outcome of an election in a southern European country on the other side of the world could send shockwaves through to our local market.

European stockmarkets slumped overnight: Milan's FTSE MIB index tumbled 4.89 per cent and London's FTSE 100 index of leading companies fell 1.34 per cent.

Yesterday our own local market dived 1.2 per cent in early trade as a direct knock on from the Italian stalemate.

The reason: the Italian connection
Investors are concerned that the Italian people have voted in large numbers for a political party which is anti-austerity and anti-euro.

They were hoping for the liberal leader Pier Luigi Bersani to win which would allow him to form a coalition government with pro-austerity and current leader Mario Monti.

Instead the Italian people have staged somewhat of a "rebellion" and a push back against austerity.

The rebellion means a huge share of the vote has gone to Mr Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo, the populist comedian.

Although Mr Berlusconi’s party does not have enough to form a majority Government – it has sent the markets into a frenzy because of fear of contagion.

It puts doubts in investors’ minds about the Eurozone’s ability to emerge from its sovereign debt crisis and see through its austerity program in problem countries like Spain, Italy and Greece

The fear is that a divided parliament in Italy would make the implementation of the austerity medicine (cutting public debt and spending) more difficult and would put a spanner in the works of the European recovery project - something that makes markets very nervous.

Italy is Europe’s fourth largest economy and how it performs and who is in power matters.

It also suffers from a raft of economic problems common to other southern European countries, ranging from low growth to an inflexible labour market and high debt to GDP - making strong leadership a must if it is to face up to its debt issues, implement the necessary austerity measures and start to regain its competitiveness.

We should also bear in mind that markets around the world are coming down off recent record highs, driven up as some see it by governments pumping money into the system and over-excited investors inflating prices of late.

So it is not surprising that we see a strong pull back on uncertainty out of Europe. 

On the other hand it can be argued we are seeing a return in investor confidence and appetite.

However ongoing doubts over a Euro area recovery, unresolved fiscal cliff issues in the US, questions over growth in Japan and China mean markets will likely remain choppy for some time to come.
 

View the original article here

How Italian voters sent markets plunging

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi almost got re-elected sending markets into a frenzy. Picture: File Source: AFP

THE Italian election sent European stocks plummeting overnight. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi almost got re-elected, sending all the austerity measures implemented by Mario Moni into doubt.

A shock election result on Monday showed a surge in support for comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment campaign, as well as surprising support for former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

It is an indication of just how interconnected global markets are that the outcome of an election in a southern European country on the other side of the world could send shockwaves through to our local market.

European stockmarkets slumped overnight: Milan's FTSE MIB index tumbled 4.89 per cent and London's FTSE 100 index of leading companies fell 1.34 per cent.

Yesterday our own local market dived 1.2 per cent in early trade as a direct knock on from the Italian stalemate.

The reason: the Italian connection
Investors are concerned that the Italian people have voted in large numbers for a political party which is anti-austerity and anti-euro.

They were hoping for the liberal leader Pier Luigi Bersani to win which would allow him to form a coalition government with pro-austerity and current leader Mario Monti.

Instead the Italian people have staged somewhat of a "rebellion" and a push back against austerity.

The rebellion means a huge share of the vote has gone to Mr Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo, the populist comedian.

Although Mr Berlusconi’s party does not have enough to form a majority Government – it has sent the markets into a frenzy because of fear of contagion.

It puts doubts in investors’ minds about the Eurozone’s ability to emerge from its sovereign debt crisis and see through its austerity program in problem countries like Spain, Italy and Greece

The fear is that a divided parliament in Italy would make the implementation of the austerity medicine (cutting public debt and spending) more difficult and would put a spanner in the works of the European recovery project - something that makes markets very nervous.

Italy is Europe’s fourth largest economy and how it performs and who is in power matters.

It also suffers from a raft of economic problems common to other southern European countries, ranging from low growth to an inflexible labour market and high debt to GDP - making strong leadership a must if it is to face up to its debt issues, implement the necessary austerity measures and start to regain its competitiveness.

We should also bear in mind that markets around the world are coming down off recent record highs, driven up as some see it by governments pumping money into the system and over-excited investors inflating prices of late.

So it is not surprising that we see a strong pull back on uncertainty out of Europe. 

On the other hand it can be argued we are seeing a return in investor confidence and appetite.

However ongoing doubts over a Euro area recovery, unresolved fiscal cliff issues in the US, questions over growth in Japan and China mean markets will likely remain choppy for some time to come.
 

View the original article here