Michael Arbon

You can listen to this episode in full or any of the previous episodes of Arbon About Australia with @FlowFMAustralia here: spreaker.com/podcast/arbon-…

The Port of Darwin should never have been sold to a Chinese company. I discussed this any many other topics this week on @FlowFMAustralia

Is there a cost of living crisis in Australia? Thanks for the chat @RCR_NZ.

I did not realise they were taxing gross rather than net gains… AFR: Investors with diversified share portfolios making a mix of gains and losses compared to inflation could face tax rates of more than 100 per cent on real gains, due to the Albanese government not compensating investors for underperforming stocks. A former senior Treasury tax official and a hedge fund manager both warned that people with a diversified portfolio of shares could face tax rates 50 per cent higher than Treasury calculated… Chalmers’ office and Treasury were contacted for comment on Thursday about whether real losses would be indexed to inflation. Under another example, an investor buys shares in Coles and Woolworths, with one outperforming inflation and the other underperforming inflation. The overall real return is zero after inflation, but the investor would pay tax on the winning stock. If an investor instead bought an ETF of supermarkets with the same overall result, they would pay no tax. afr.com/policy/tax-and…

@FordJohn266871 @GandP007 At least he took it to the 1998 election and gained people's support.

@arbsmichael @GandP007 More crap .. Howard bought in the GST ..

20 years ago, Peter Costello delivered a budget that boasted no debt, a cash surplus, big tax cuts, and investment in a future fund. There was no interest bill, and tax rates were falling fast because we were debt free. This year, Jim Chalmers delivered a budget that boasted a gross debt of >$1 trillion, a $42.1b deficit, CGT, negative gearing and discretionary trust tax increases, plus deficits of $179.5b for the forward estimates. Interest on debt is the fastest growing major payment in the budget. From surpluses and tax cuts to trillion-dollar debt and entrenched deficits. How fast we’ve fallen.

On this week's Arbon about Australia with @FlowFMAustralia we discuss: - Jim Chalmer's failed budget - The fall of Labor and rise of Liberals, Nationals, and One Nation - Bracket creep and indexation of taxes - Gas reservation policy - Port of Darwin sale - NVIDIA compared to Australia Listen to the show for free, link in comments. 👇

Sources: 2026/27 Budget: budget.gov.au/content/bp1/in… 2006/07 Budget: archive.budget.gov.au/2006-07/index.…

@belinduhpyne @JEChalmers Good pick up. Here's what I fed in 👇

@arbsmichael @JEChalmers Yo @arbsmichael if you’re going to create and share AI slop, maybe proofread before you decide to post.

At kitchen tables across Australia, families are discovering @JEChalmers has his hand in every wallet.

@888ALX @tanya_plibersek That's correct

Families don’t have trusts just for Tax reasons , there is asset protection , inheritance succession and equality of distribution written into the trust document so if you have a several children it’s a live will that is ongoing after your passing . Never as simple as for tax reasons only as perceived by the Labour Party.

Minister @tanya_plibersek says Australians use discretionary trusts to minimise tax. Yes Tanya. Of course they do. Australians have every right to lawfully minimise the tax they pay, especially when governments waste so much of what they collect. As Kerry Packer famously said: “if anybody in this country doesn’t minimise their tax they want their heads read.” Labor’s new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts is a direct hit on family businesses, deceased estates, entrepreneurs, and those willing to take investment risks. Hands off, @JEChalmers. Scrap your punitive tax increases.

Politics? Left or Right. Binary. Climate change? Believer or denier. Binary. War? Pick a side. Binary. Gender? Anything goes... except binary. Apparently, nuance is only permitted where ideology allows it. When Tickle v Giggle becomes a landmark case over biological reality in women-only spaces, you begin to wonder whether society can still distinguish seriousness from satire. The names are amusing. The implications are not.

Plibersek quote: smh.com.au/politics/no-on… Packer quote: smh.com.au/politics/feder…

@TheKouk Fair point.

Noteworthy NZ has a GST equivalent of 15% on all goods & services. If you go there, you might save a few bucks on your capital gains, but will be slugged every day, week, and year you are there with the hefty GST rate.

Australia is a wonderful country, perhaps the most blessed in the world. Sometimes, those of us who follow politics too closely become consumed by what is wrong with the country. But the problems we face are not problems with Australia itself, nor with the Australian people or our way of life. They are, more often than not, problems of government. Higher taxes, overregulation, and the slow erosion of civil liberties are not permanent conditions. They are political choices. And what is done politically can also be undone politically. The next time you find yourself dwelling on what is wrong with Australia, remember this: if something can be broken, it can also be repaired. But that only happens when enough of us choose to do more than cast a vote every few years. Join a political party of your choice. Contribute to policy debates. Pre-select principled candidates and hold them to account once elected. Get involved in public life and help shape the future of our country. Australia is worth backing.

@TheNoisyTrunk @JEChalmers I'd never ask you to be quiet. I respect your right to voice your opinion.

@arbsmichael @JEChalmers Oh, do be quiet.

Higher taxes are not reform @JEChalmers, they're regression disguised as fairness. You're killing aspiration and reward for effort. 2028 can't come soon enough.

Image source: news.com.au/finance/econom…

Australians should familiarise themselves with the term capital flight. Capital flight is what happens when investors and businesses leave for countries with lower taxes, greater stability and less hostility toward success. Labor has dressed their big taxing budget up as “intergenerational fairness,” but in reality it is a regressive and punitive tax regime that will undermine investment and aspiration. These changes don’t just hit property investors. They punish small family businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors in assets like equities, ETFs, crypto and precious metals. Jim Chalmers' policies will drive investment offshore and make Australia poorer.