Budget

[dicko]

The federal government in Australia has just delivered the budget. What is the bottom line for tobacco? I assume there will be a tax rise on tobacco (seems just a natural progression now).

[jayceskinner]

I assume there will be a tax rise on tobacco.

There shouldn't be as there is already a CPI (Consumer Price Index) tax increase every February and August of each year and this is also applied to certain alcohol and other items. For example the taxes for tobacco in February 2010 were $327.77 per kilogram of tobacco content then in August 2010 raised to $415.86 per kilogram of tobacco content.

Now it is $443.11 per kilogram of tobacco content, as you can see it is pretty random but still a constant tax that rises twice every year.

[Dimmers]

Not sure of the effect on cigars, though cigarette pricing will go up by an estimated 7 cents per pack through early 2014 - "...tobacco taxes will rise with average wages rather than inflation from March next year. This means the increase in tobacco excise will keep pace with income growth rather than the consumer price index, which tends to grow more slowly".

http://www.smh.com.a...0514-2jko6.html

[OZCUBAN]

the only consolation is this Government is dead man walking

[Duxnutz]

Watching Juliar cry today gave me the Hebey Geebies (not the issue just our crap PM).

[Fuzz AI]

the only consolation is this Government is dead man walking

May be dead man walking, but after it will be Australia in the grave when the other bunch of idiots come to power.

As for tobacco taxes, just because they go up every Feb/Aug, it doesn't mean it will follow CPI. The 2010 increase of 25% was the biggest increase in over a decade (from the '08 Henry tax review, which also reduced the duty free tax allowance on tobacco), and there is nothing to stop the govt from doing it again.

[Fuzz AI]

Okay, so the Mad Monk has given his budget reply. What do you guys think?

Deficit or surplus? Spend or save? Which will be better for the economy?

[tmc123]

Either way there are always going to be people who complain that they arent doing it right. I am not a fan of Gilliard but i don't think abbot would be any better to lead the country. I didnt get a chance to watch abbots speech last night so i cant really make any judgements on which government "promisies" the most. I would cut spending, suffer the complaints and bring a surplus in sooner rather than later before their spending gets out of hand. But thats just me and probably easier said than done