News.com.au’s Money Stuff Blog seems to be having a through the looking glass moment, taking aim at nasty people who aren’t properly deferential to those who earn much higher incomes than most of us.
There is still one “ist”, though, that not only seems to be accepted but which often seems to be actively encouraged. I’m talking about wealthist – otherwise known as the national sport of disliking those who are better off than yourself.
Wealthist? Apparently the well to do are being oppressed because their privilege has excluded them from having a way to be discriminated against, or something. But it gets better, as the author trots out some stats to make her point.
According to ATO taxation statistics from 08/09, of the 50% of Australians who actually submit a tax return at all, the proportion of tax paid is as follows:People with the top three percent of taxable incomes paid 31% of all net tax.
The next six percent paid 18% of all net tax.
The next 31 percent paid 41% of all net tax.
The next 35 percent paid 10% of all net tax.
The last 25 percent didn’t pay any tax.Jeez, let’s hope that we don’t piss those top three percent off so much that they leave the country. We’d be in a world of financial pain then!
Yes, I’m sure that if all of the high income earners in Australia moved tomorrow there’d be no-one able to do their jobs, no-one would get pay rises, we’d just find the economy collapsed overnight. Or not.
What I think is more interesting about these numbers, something that isn’t touched on by Justine Davies in her article, is that if fewer than 10% of taxpayers are paying almost 50% of the income tax that’s collected then there is probably more income inequality in Australia than most of us are aware of. Should we ask questions about the shape of our society if one in ten of us earns around as much as the next nine put together? Or would that be “Wealthist”?
19 Comments
This crikey article is a useful starting point:
OECD finds inequality increasing in Australia (Richard Farmer)
This is far too silly to warrant any attention. Likewise anything published by Rupert Murdoch, anything written by Andrew Bolt, or anything uttered by Sydney shockjocks. We should just refuse to entertain anything these idiots say and tell our own stories. Stop giving our power to them. This should be the new mantra of the Labor Party.
Lordy, lordy- are we sure this isn’t the first part of serialised Novel?
Justine: Or A Fainanical Journalist’s Education.
Part the First: In Which Justine Discovers the Progressive Taxation System.
A Saga of Over-Capitalisation, obviously.
Here’s something else amusing on the topic of “wealthism”:
Rich people more likely to take lollies from children: study
As people have pointed out the amount of tax paid by the top end is only relevant if it is disporoportionate to the total income.
The fact that the bottom 25 % pays nil is due in large measure to the very large tax concessions given by Howard to the Age Pensioners.
Is Justine Davies suggesting this concession should end? That Howard was wrong in the granting the concession? Is this the start of News Ltd recognising how bad a financial manager the Liberals are?
However the rich and priveleged are more likely to cheat and steal…
Rich people more likely to take lollies from children: study
People from wealthy backgrounds are more likely than poorer people to break laws while driving, take lollies from children, and lie for financial gain, a United States study says.
The seven-part study by psychologists at the University of California Berkeley and the University of Toronto analysed people’s behaviour through a series of experiments.
For instance, drivers of expensive vehicles were observed to be more likely to break the rules at four-way intersections, and were more likely to cut off pedestrians trying to cross the street than drivers of cheaper cars.
In another test using a game of dice, given the opportunity to win a prize, people who self-reported high socio-economic status were more likely than the rest to lie and say that they had rolled higher numbers than they actually had.
“Even in people for whom $50 is a relatively small amount of money, cheating was three times as high,” said lead author Paul Piff of UC Berkeley.
I have to wonder if our nation’s journalists, in spite of their their desperation to talk about something other than the ALP leadership fiasco, have simply forgotten what news looks like.
Surely there’s a dog show on somewhere? A calisthenics competition? A spelling bee? How about sticking on some boots and go reporting on something happening in the country? How are our bees coping with this new mite thing? Are our sheep farmers worried about schmallenberg? How’s the vintage looking, with all this rain? Come on … NEWS! REPORT!
People with the top three percent of taxable incomes paid 31% of all net,/b> tax.
Whailoilbeefhooked!
Given that these people spend more, then they pay more gst! OMG!
Whats the outcome from direct tax, after deductions? That would be an interesting number indeed. I don’t really care if they pay more tax on their new Prado or their new $3 million dollar mansion than does someone for second hand Kia or a rented flat. It appears that all perspective is missing, which is truly uncommon in murdocks morons.
MoC – ABC just did a report on a swarm of bees who’ve taken up residence at a restaurant on I think the Gold Coast. Beekeepers came to the rescue and are relocating the little darlings to a hive at a special school where the kids will look after them and sell the honey to raise money. The journo ended his report with “it gives them a buzz.”
Simply trying to import the belief system of the political right from the USA into Australia. This story is ridiculous here and (most) Australians would look at it and scoff. Over in the USA this is not only a common refrain, it is in every single Republican’s campaign. Even the so-called rebel Ron Paul plays with this meme.
It works well in the USA because you can win elections by making sure your crazy support base outnumbers their crazy support base and depress the general voter turnout. Enough wins based on such a strategy and you get the situation where you act like an outright lunatic to get into government. I reckon it’s going to take a little bit longer to work here as you can’t depress the number of people that vote, so you really DO have to convince most people of your argument. Specious as it might be.
Matthew of Canberra said:
“Surely there’s a dog show on somewhere? A calisthenics competition? A spelling bee? How about sticking on some boots and go reporting on something happening in the country? How are our bees coping with this new mite thing? Are our sheep farmers worried about schmallenberg? How’s the vintage looking, with all this rain? Come on … NEWS! REPORT!”
There is news today, too.
During the ALP leadership dispute, it took Greens Senator Christine Milne to Tweet the relevance of real news to journalists: That of the death of an award-winning journalist trying to bring news of the brutal crackdown in Syria.
Today Amnesty International releases its report detailing the fact that while the Arab Spring blooms, in nearby Iran the theocratic mullahs have achieved similarly morbid success in their latest quest to ‘convince’ its own citizenry.
“There were around four times as many public executions in 2011 as in 2010, a practice that Amnesty International said was used by the authorities to strike fear into society”
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/iran-new-report-finds-surge-repression-dissent-2012-02-28
(Iran executes more people than any country on earth, bar China).
Indeed, where is the coverage.
Hidden because reporting on real executions makes the casual use of terms like backstabbing, knifing and assassination look as stupid as they actually are?
The sense of entitlement is growing in Australia. I had an argument with some friends about the removal of the private health insurance rebate for high income earners (which included all of us). One comment was that the more they earn, the more government takes from them – I had to point out that for every extra dollar she earns, the government in fact only taks 38 or so (can’t quite remember the tax scales yet). In other words, you get to keep more than 50% of the gain.
Then came the line about working hard for their money – you can’t fool me, I’m a public servant too!
In the end, it came down to a belief that the Government should reward them for working hard and making money. So, the financial and intrinsic rewards from work are not enough, now I actually have to get more rewards from the Government!
For some reason, when I read this thread, the Ben Folds Five “Rockin’ the Suburbs” plays in my head.
Y’all don’t know what it’s like,
being male, middle class and white
@ MoC
I have to wonder if our nation’s journalists, in spite of their their desperation to talk about something other than the ALP leadership fiasco, have simply forgotten what news looks like
Answer: yes.
When they do accidentally bump into something of some consequence, do they simply adopt the line spun by the loudest vested interests instead of asking some pertinent questions?
Answer: Yes
Dudette @11. Fair enough, but notice which State is fourth:
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/3/29/1301409557898/Death-penalty-statistics-001.jpg
Please note that this data is via the Gruniad, not the Murdochracy, or an AI fact sheet that mentions Israel in any way. So, to quote Mandy Rice Davies, you would say that, wouldn’t you.
Do the mega rich really care if anyone dislikes them? And, if so, would they really do a John Galt and leave just for that reason?
rhwombat,
I’m unsure how your comment undercuts the disturbing figures released by Amnesty International regarding executions in Iran.
I’m also unsure how it mitigates Amnesty International highlighting the political repression we see in Iran today, in particular since the 2009 ‘Green Revolution’.
dudette: …and, of course, your off topic comment has nothing to do with your past performance as the resident apologist for Netanyahu’s gang (…a bibibabe?), does it?