Small businesses copped Labor’s socialist king-hit. These days they’re called a ‘coward punch’ which is fitting, because what the Treasurer penned in his Budget certainly constitutes a cowardly act.
On display since last Tuesday’s Budget are Labor’s double standards. These are supported by their network of supporters I would call the bolshie petty bourgeoisie.
They’re bolshie as in communists, but they are actually the petty bourgeoisie.
They aren’t the owners of the means of production, but they’re public servants, union officials, dole bludgers, and immigrants all living off the government.
Apparently, some 27 per cent of our GDP goes to handouts for Labor’s bolshie petty bourgeoisie.
This time, Labor has declared war on small business. There are some 840,000 family trusts registered in Australia. About 350,000 active small businesses use family trusts as their main business structure. This represents approximately 15 per cent of all active small businesses in Australia.
The government is going to tax family trusts at a minimum 30 per cent. They’ve also established the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman from 1 January 2027. This institution will help small businesses to use structures the Labor government approves of. Talk about over-reach.
In response, the memes have come thick and fast. Businesses are announcing that Anthony Albanese is now their silent business partner who does f**k all while taking 47 per cent of their profits.
What many don’t realise is that transferring assets out of their family trusts into companies may attract stamp duty in Queensland and Western Australia and possibly elsewhere. This is a double whammy.
The National Cabinet got a guernsey in the Budget papers, with a few mentions about state-based consultation. But National Cabinet is not a constitutional entity. In reality, it doesn’t exist. So, if you’re expecting the non-existent National Cabinet to quarantine your family trust’s assets from state-based stamp duty, don’t. They didn’t remove stamp duty like they were supposed to when the GST came in during the Howard government era. So why would they forgo another hit on you now?
The really annoying thing are the double standards from Labor’s online hit squads. I had one online punter go on and on about where the 47 per cent figure was coming from. Luvvie, it’s from the same place where the Treasurer found savings against forecasts that aren’t real. If Labor wants to go to war with small business, then all’s fair in luvvies and warfare in my book.
Which brings me to the most repugnant thing you missed this week. Rumours have strengthened that Labor uses welfare to entice votes. We knew this was a thing for US Democrats and UK Labour, but now the cat is out of the bag here too.
Apparently, it works like this. Non-citizens get welfare from the Australian government. But these are not stand-alone individuals. They are relatives of Australian citizens. So if you, or Angus Taylor, for example, try to take away welfare from non-citizens, then their citizen relatives are less likely to vote for the candidate that stands up for actual citizens.
I can’t believe that people think it’s okay that our taxes pay for non-citizens. I don’t want to pay for citizen bludgers, let alone foreigners. That’s my opinion as someone working their arse off to survive.
I remember looking into options for moving permanently overseas a few years back. Places like Jordan in the Middle East, it can take up to 30 years, if at all. And they can’t afford welfare for anyone, let alone ex-foreigners.
China’s the same. Unless you are a family member of a Chinese citizen, forget about obtaining Chinese citizenship. It just doesn’t happen. They are extremely protective of their citizenship and national culture and do so without apology.
But apparently it is racist to question why somebody, who is not a citizen, should be able to obtain welfare in Australia. It beggars belief that this even needs debate. No, they should not receive welfare.
And if you think political parties should be held hostage to this situation, then follow the logical conclusion. A political party keeps importing those who live on public money, who then keep voting for that party. Eventually, politicians are going to run out of other people’s money. (Even more than now.)
When Australia becomes a nation of dole bludgers, where does the money come from? It doesn’t. Just ask Mikhail Gorbachev. It’d be like 25 December 1991 all over again. It’s hardly all your Christmases coming at once.
My editor tells me I should tell you about a bunch of interesting things you might have missed during the week. [Editor’s note: You have completely ignored my requests.] But the ramifications of Labor’s Budget have so much hidden detail that I had to rant about the path we are on.
You might also have missed that the Commonwealth Bank has taken the biggest hit to its shareholder value since Paul Keating privatised it in the 1990s. Or that Keir Starmer is on the nose and might be gone soon. (Yay!)
But as I write this, my Facebook ‘friends’ are in a heated battle over the Budget. Those in small business versus those who have government jobs. Apparently, it is much better to have a government job then run your own business.
Which brings me back to the thing you might have missed. Government jobs only exist if there are businesses making a profit to pay tax. If you destroy all the businesses, there is no leftie forest of money to save our collective arses. Unless Jimbo has invented some magical new form of accounting.
On a serious note, Angus Taylor has finally started providing policies that aren’t Labor-lite. These might possibly be plagiarised from One Nation’s playbook, but Angus didn’t write a thesis about Pauline Hanson and then copy all of her moves. Unlike some people.
But what you really might have missed is that Westpac’s chief economist, Luci Ellis, has suggested an excellent policy. She suggests that bracket creep could be removed by increasing the tax brackets by the RBA’s target inflation rate of 2.5 per cent. So, when things are good, you’ll pay a bit more tax. When things aren’t so good, you’ll pay a bit less. It’s like a civilised version of Keynesianism that isn’t painted red. It would also mean that the RBA’s monetary policy wouldn’t be fighting with the government’s fiscal policy like it is now.
So what did you miss? I bet you miss the days before Labor came to power and your mortgage was cheaper, fuel was cheaper, groceries were cheaper, you weren’t reskilling with free TAFE because you are shit-scared of losing your home. I bet you also miss the days when you thought only Australians citizens were eligible for welfare.
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.
