I don’t think Turnbull quite understands what’s going on here. He can defend his Cayman Islands ‘investments’ all he likes, it will only damage him further. Yes, everyone already knows that he’s wealthy, but he was still supported as an alternative to Abbott on the grounds that he was ‘progressive’ – especially by those to the left of the Liberals, of course. He gained his political reputation by standing up to Howard over a highly populist cause, and I suspect his failure on the republic issue only made him seem more human to Australians.

Anything that sees him siding with the wealthy is going to damage his reputation. And his party are going to go into bat for him here with great enthusiasm, which is going to cause him more problems. He’s willingly tying himself to political positions further right than he’d like to project. The longer this goes on, the less of an alternative/moderate he’s going to seem.

This isn’t about nailing him, that won’t happen. But it is about a highly public display of Turnbull being rich and arrogant, ferreting away ‘our’ money overseas, and generally showing contempt for this country and its people.

If he had any sense or judgement, he’d get all that money out of there pronto and find somewhere in this country to invest it. And then describe it as an act of goodwill toward the Australian people. He could at least shut the ALP up with the claim that he’d done nothing wrong in the first place, but is also responsive to the national voice. He’s going the other way, however.

It’s a smart move by the ALP. It fosters further distrust of the Liberals and Turnbull, and it also plays to Turnbull’s weaknesses, his love of money over love of duty, and his appalling lack of judgement.

At worst, it encourages the opinion that “they’re all as bad as each other” – that’s if the Liberals and media can find any kind of ALP investments to fire back with. But Turnbull can’t afford that idea. He needs to be seen as better than the rest, it’s what his reputation rests on. He’ll be dragged back to the pack at the very least, and he’s not going to make it fighting amongst equals, he needs that massive head start.
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And he’s not made the most auspicious start to his leadership, has he? His first week back was all about his refusal (or more likely inability) to change any of Abbott’s contentious policies, to the point where he was forced to defend them. He takes a break, and his first week back is plagued with accusations that he’s a tax dodger.

I’m sure the ALP have lots more little surprises for him too.

Our secrecy laws on tax payments by the wealthy are the reason Labor brought up Turnbull’s Caymans investments. Labor has not stupidly accused Turnbull of tax avoidance, there is much more in play. Labor is using the Caymans angle to bring the secrecy laws into the spotlight. The government does not want to change them because if they did, we would know just how little tax squillionaires like Gina, James Packer and – of course – Mal and Lucy actually pay. Or don’t pay. Whichever journo at The Guardian dismissed it all yesterday by saying all Labor had done was point out Turnbull is rich completely missed the point.

Turnbull is now faced with a problem. Does he tough it out and make himself appear even more arrogant than usual by making snarky remarks about Labor/us mere commoners not understanding how managed funds work, as he did in QT yesterday,or he does release a full disclosure of just how much tax he pays.
Quote:


Does anyone believe a tight-arse like Turnbull would happily pay more tax by having all his income from managed funds taxed in Australia, regardless of where the money was made? This is a man who, until he moves into The Lodge, claims a lousy $10 for every night his wife spends with him in his Canberra penthouse. That is in addition to the $273 a night he charges us for staying in his own place. He does not need the money, but he is entitled to claim it, so he does. efore he became PM he claimed private vehicle allowance for the times he drove himself to Canberra, travel for his wife when she flew to Canberra to join him, not because he needs the money but because he is entitled to claim it, so he does. We even pay for his newspaper subscriptions. He keeps his $500,000+ salary too, all of it. It’s peanuts to him, but it’s more money for the Turnbull coffers.
http://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/P35_TURNBULL_Malcolm.pdf

Do you really believe a man so greedy, so eager to rake in every possible cent, would pay even one extra cent in tax if he could find a way to avoid that? I don’t.

I'm still unsure what that forum is trying to say, I personally have my funds in a managed fund, and I defy anyone who thinks its easy to suggest a better option, cash is hopeless I don't see any point in investing in property given the cooling market Malcolm pays tax as do I.

mariacostel wrote on Oct 18^th, 2015 at 7:52am:



now you want to pretend to know where posters have their money? 

Dnarever wrote on Oct 18^th, 2015 at 9:48am:


I'm willing to bet that the majority of people on here eg you and johnsmith have no money at all.

as for 'hypocrites' I was referring to the ALP front bench who DO have money invested there.

Jovial Monk wrote on Oct 19^th, 2015 at 9:01am:


Yeah... in ten years.  Real 'soon'.