Carstendog

I'm running numbers on family trusts. If the trust owned by mum, dad, and 19-year-old daughter earns $180,000 a year and they distribute $60,000 to each the tax will be three times $9,000 = $27000. At 30% flat, it's $54,000. That's double - The only way out is to change distributions to wages, but they must be able to justify the wage. It's a shameful attack on business

Me: "I'm going to stop buying unnecessary stuff and save some money" Amazon: Your tortoise's hand knitted bonnet has been dispatched.

A must read for the advocates of the indexation of income tax scales. It destroys the budget bottom line. It is a solution looking for a problem.

The ruling today, irrespective of the scope of the judgment and obvious implications for women, shows exactly why federal judicial appointments are so crucial by the government of the day. Attorneys-General since Christian Porter have been so lazy with appointments and focused on ticking a box for political point scoring, rather than legal ability. A cursory analysis of the current governments federal judicial appointments in the last few years reveals many judges who have barely spent any time as Senior Counsel and have made submissions during time at the Bar that would indicate certain social and political views one way or the other. Much of the federal judicial benches are deeply lacking in fundamental rule of law basics, especially criminal law, which is arguably the nuts and bolts. Federally appointed judges don’t just apply the law, they define its scope which has fundamental flow on effects on society, often for decades. The public and minor parties must pay far greater attention to who the government is putting on the federal judicial benches. Consideration needs to be given for a Federal Judicial Commission, similar to what some states have, to ensure merit, transparency and accountability of individual judges.

Sydney to Canberra by train? Beautiful… but a little slow. We’re investing to get travel time down below 4 hours. Greener, cheaper, more productive. 🚆