John Smith wrote on Dec 31
st, 2012 at 1:15pm:
aquascoot wrote on Dec 31
st, 2012 at 6:06am:
Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Dec 31
st, 2012 at 5:44am:
180k is not middle income.
SOB
andrei is fairly correct.
most of the very rich pay very little.
$180 k is a level where many of the most productive people in the economy operate.
your best IT people, the cream of tradesmen, engineers, your best farmers, financial services workers, many small business owners will spend quite a lot of time in this bracket.
at 47 % tax, you are putting them on 1/2 wages and many just ease up . thi may be a good thing for them persoanlly. some will get into the very destructive and economy distorting games.....negative gearing
, leverage in shares
investing off shore
, private super(expensive and removing productive assets out of business investment and having them "mpth balled"
.
so whilst no one is starving on $180 k, by exclusively attacking them, the public really shoot themselves in the foot.
many of our brightest science, medical, business people up root and head of to dubai, hong kong , singapore, where they are welcomed with open arms.
I'd say you spend quite a bit of time dreaming ... I was a tradie for many yrs, didn't know a single one that made $180 000 .... sure, there were building companies that make that, but none of the tradies working for them ever did ... I think your figures are well off ...
john , its a matter of skills (and increasingly this is where the prosperity will have to come from.
sure, your right, the average light bulb changing sparkie or washer changing plumber is on $50k
but heres a few that may interest you.
these are just ones i know.
a welder who also got a scuba ticket and learnt how to do underwater welds showed me his tax return for working on mining projects. $650 k.
now he could and may go anywhere in the world. mite lose him if he feels that the numpties in OZ resent him.
a seismic IT analyst on a seimic mapping ship can earn over $500 k.
again, plenty of work for these guys OS if we tell them they are selfish pricks for earning so much.
a mine management engineer on a coalfield in qld can easily earn 400 k.
which country produces the most coal, not oz, indonesia, easy trip to go work there.
which country produces the most iron ore, not us sweden.
good lifestyle there.
btw, sweden recently moved or is moving a town of 30,000 people to mine the biggest iron ore mountian in the world.
no outrage, no green , red, black tape. the people want to be prosperous.
our miners want to dig up some outback piece of crap land and need to negotiate with half the government agencies in oz.
we can continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.
we can continue to see the brain drain.
BTW a couple more for you.
australias barista of the year has moved his operation to seoul
1/2 the job vacancy ads, in medical mags, for surgeons and registered nurses are for tax free jobs in the emirates or saudi.
and people wonder about waiting lists.
the world job market is global. our best financial and business people will be head hunted.
sure the mine worker who holds up the stop go sign or puts out the slippery when wet signs in the dunny at bhp isnt going anywhere. but once you lose your best mining technical people, your best docs and nurse, your best medical researchers . all becuase you thought it was a good idea to kcik them in the guts for earning more (the definition of envy)
you will be left with an economy of pawnbrokers and tattoo parlours.