Thumbs up, thumbs down and thumbing one's nose for the flood levy
The Age
Saturday January 29, 2011
Vanniasingam Thurasingam, 57, TemplestoweI don't think the tax is a good idea, the government should have the money to be able to cover the costs of the floods. And if they don't, then they should find the money by making cuts or savings from other areas. I think the government should be more prudent with its spending. I don't mind if they don't have a surplus [by 2013]. I think if floods or fire happen and they have to borrow money to cover the cost of repairing the damage, then that's what they should do. It will even out as not all years have disasters.Angie Catanese, 45, HadfieldAustralians donate goods and money and I get that, it's voluntary. We help each other in times of crisis. But there is a difference between a donation and a tax. The government should find the money by cutting back on the number of overseas trips ministers go on and the big banks could also help, as this is a good opportunity for them to contribute. The banks could fund a permanent disaster relief fund with big businesses. Also, overseas countries could help. I gave money for Haiti, so maybe we can ask other countries for help.Claudia MacAskill, 26, FairfieldI don't mind paying the levy. I think it's a good idea and it's such a small amount from my salary, I won't miss it really. Plus, this is a one-off, so it doesn't feel so bad. But it would be good if the government could set up a fund so we are prepared. We probably should have done that after the Black Saturday bushfires. But they should learn from these floods and do something, so in the future if something happens we are prepared. I wouldn't want the government to go into debt over it though, as that will affect all of us.Al Hutchings, 20, Florey, ACTAbsolutely, I think the levy is a good idea. It's going to cost us a lot to fix the damage caused from the floods and I'd rather it gets shared around among everyone. It makes sense how they've done it based on a band system, so poorer people pay less and richer people more. I think it's fair to exempt low-income people and people affected by the floods too. No one likes paying more tax but if you know where its going, that helps. A question I have though is, why no business tax? I think that would make sense as a lot of businesses have the means.Allistair Lindsay, 43, HobartConceptually, I think a levy is OK because it's a special effort that's needed to get things back to normal. But it smacks of opportunism. People have contributed time, money and goods to this and I think that if they had known the government would do this, things might have been different. Government should find the money to fund the recovery and if they don't have it they could raise the money by reducing waste and duplication. There should be a disaster fund. Really, the government should have already set one up.Joy Meredith, BullaI think there has to be other ways such as taking a look at the budget and making some cuts. There should be contingency plans to fund damage from natural disasters as while you can't predict the future, you should be able to allow for unexpected disasters. We all will be hit hard by it anyway with the increased costs of fruit and vegetables. But something has to be done and in a way, when you look at it, it's just a cup of coffee a week. You probably wouldn't notice it.
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