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October 30, 2005
Daylight Savings
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!
All you Queenslanders who hate the fact that the antiquated, irrelevant and embarrassing history of arguments against Daylight Savings have so far inhibited Queensland's capacity to work in the same time zone as the southern states, PLEASE sign the petition to enact Daylight Savings at http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/EPetitions_QLD/cgi-bin/Petitions.cgi?PetNum=553&PetType=1.
It may not actually do much as a petition, but if it draws enough signatures (in the order of millions) perhaps it will shake up the Federal Government to simply force all eastern states to adopt Daylight Savings en masse.
It's time to stop listening to the irrelevant and insipid arguments of Far North Queenslanders who don't want Daylight Savings. Schools and tourism ventures can always schedule their start and finishing times an hour later during the summer season, if Daylight Savings is so distasteful to them. And in the meantime, businesses that dominate the growing economy of Queensland can operate effectively. Time to wake up, Queensland. Show your support for Daylight Savings, now.
Posted by jj at 9:06 AM | Comments (9)
This week
... I fully intend to have a great time, but I'm going to be busy. Meetings all day Monday and teaching at night, Cup Day at the Stamford Tuesday, Public lecture to celebrate Australian of the Year on Wednesday, followed by the trip down to Cedar Creek Falls where ACID will be holding its retreat from Wednesday evening till late on Friday.
And then of course on Friday I'll be celebrating my birthday. So it's a busy, but enjoyable week.
Posted by jj at 7:11 AM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2005
The night was dark and stormy
Okay so it's been a full week since I've blogged but I did warn you.
For the past 45 minutes I've been entranced by the phenomenal lightning display outside my home office window, where I have never been able to count more than a second and a half before another lightning strike lights up the sky. I love Brisbane storms. They are absolutely spectacular. But I suspect the torrential rain is only a matter of minutes away so I am about to go and close up the house against the impending onslaught. The crash of nearby thunder echoes through my little flat.
In the past week my life has been very busy, my work rewarding, and my days and nights full. A couple of people very close to me have been unwell, so I've been very concerned about them, but they're both on the mend, and I'm hoping to spend some time with them soon. On Monday night I saw Pride and Prejudice with Liz and Melissa and enjoyed it, but feel the television series (with Colin Firth as Darcy!) is still my favourite interpretation of that wonderful Jane Austen novel.
Next week promises to be equally busy though perhaps a little less work oriented and more pleasant. I have my Cup Day outfit nearly complete and look forward to a fabulous day! And just to remind you all - my birthday is just over a week away (04/11). :) I do enjoy birthday messages :)
Posted by jj at 8:19 PM | Comments (3)
October 20, 2005
Turnbull's advocacy of tax reform
I attended the public lecture from Malcolm Turnbull tonight on tax reform to see what he'd say about Coalition arguments for tax reform. (And yes, given the calls on my time, it was a bit of a stretch to make the time to attend.) But the value in attending was at least finding that Turnbull believes what he's saying.
Tax reform is a complex issue and even tiny changes can have a massive impact on the wealth of various groups. At least Turnbull admits that. His full speech is available for download from his website and my notes are in the extended entry. No critical stuff in my notes though - I still take notes like a journalist - verbatim rather than arguing as I was doing in my head with the content being delivered!
NOTES ON MALCOLM TURNBULL’S LECTURE ON TAX REFORM
Full text of the speech is available from the download section of Turnbull’s own website.
26 August Jeremy Templeton paper designed to make the tax system simpler, more broadly based and more equitable
Modelled 300 changes. Designed to consider the absolute costs as well as ‘hidden costs’.
Paper was designed to promote debate rather than an advocate a specific model.
MPs have a particular responsibility to ensure association and participation with public debate on tax reform.
One of the ideas of reducing the top marginal tax rate from 47% was only an idea covered in the paper and was noted to be an expensive option. Turnbull is not necessarily an advocate of reducing the top marginal tax rate.
Broad based low rate is the basic recommendation of the Treasurer.
Key finding from the study is that fundamental reform to the tax system is affordable and logical.
Case for levying FBT at tax payers rate (outside the usual 48.5% - paid by 3% of the total population) is possible but affordability is the key issue.
2005 Budget: EMTRs. Turnbull argues that the worker has done well, but middle income families have done better (he cites Anne Harding, Peter Saunders – critics who are concerned about churning).
Nonetheless, the 2005 Budget was a mixed blessing for tax reformists. By raising the threshold for the top rates, it reduced the tax income to the governments and thus benefits will be somewhat reduced. One of the great political challenges is in terms of base cuts and provision of tax concessions. You can model a broadening of the base and lower rates and narrow the benefits.
Changes in the paper did not assume cuts of government expenditure.
[[see paper for arguments for tax reform]]
2/3 of all income tax paid by top 20% of tax payers.
[[quotes for Adam Smith]]
Wide consensus around the world that tax systems around the world should be through broader bases and lower rates. In the last decade, 9 European countries have moved to flat tax rates.
The more complicated a tax system becomes, the more governments can further complicate the system.
Not advocating a flat tax – just flatter. Sort of changes Turnbull is speaking about would not be regarded as radical let alone revolutionary anywhere is the world.
Motivation to move to flatter taxes is to maintain incentives to earn….. so people like Hamish won’t leave the country and take their business overseas to HK (top tax of 17.5%)
[[see reference to Melb Inst paper in Turnbull’s speech]]
Reducing top two income tax rates won’t provide benefits to anyone else. Cost of reducing the top tax rate is approaching or approximately the same as reducing tax threshold by $1500.
Two models would result in 80,000 increase on workforce (small increase). Don’t’ count compliance costs.
Problem with the model is that it assumes Australia is a closed economy – so this is an issue in terms of the growth of the nation and the dispersion of the population.
Our system encourages to earners towards negative gearing and other tax reduction mechanisms, inducing a property bubble.
[[see paper for Capital Gains discussion]]
Almost all of our international competitors have zero or low Capital Gains tax, so can’t increase politically.
Relationship between tax and government revenues is not a simple equation. We may find that controversial changes in US tax (lowering tax rates and reductions in tax free threshold) will provide higher tax revenue. To combat this, there is an idea of a tax scale with just 2 tax rates of 30 and 40% with a tax credit for specific income ranges. 30% tax rates applied for wages fro $0 - $25,000. 40% for all above that. Tax credits apply all along the income ranges.
Emerson has focussed on removing the 42% bracket would only benefit top 20% of the income earners.
[[see speech for discussion of alternative arguments and other citations]]
It’s important to bear in mind that people focus on what they are going to lose rather than what they are going to gain. Political challenge is to focus on lowering of rates rather than focus on changes to benefits. Those who take the greatest advantage of concessions will be those who lose the most from reform. Once you have a benefit that is means tested, it means that once an income rises the benefit is removed.
Bracket creep is a concern. Important as families become subject to EMTRs. Average rather than marginal tax rates are affected by this phenomenon. Solution might be indexing.
[[see conclusion of the paper on the compliance and benefits/concessions of tax reform]]
“Fairer, simpler, more efficient tax system”. The time is right for another round of tax reform – should not let opportunity pass us by.
QUESTIONS
1. John McRobert. Nero’s fiddling while Rome burns. Flawed system fiddling doesn’t actually solve the system.
2. Difficult topic well researched. Did you look at the 2% expenditure tax? Turnbull wasn’t persuaded by the argument. Didn’t think it would be feasible. Michael Something. No income tax.
3. Unless you get everyone behind you, you can’t necessarily get things through. How do you intend to reform? Turnbull – suggests they we don’t embed tax reform in the Constitution (!). It’s possible to change and better not to be too complex. Incremental change adds complexity. Tax reform only really understood by an elite few.
4. Modelled impact on inflation? Turnbull doesn’t think his changes would have any impact on inflation. If no benefit in inflation, then how we lower and middle Australia benefit from proposed change. Turnbull: one of the dividends of a more efficient system is improvement on inflation. But there seems to be no general impact on inflation.
LECTURE CLOSED
Posted by jj at 9:17 PM | Comments (1)
Public notice about unavailability
Folks,
I'm really busy at the moment so I'm sorry if I'm not getting to messages. There shall be a short delay in contacting people while I get my projects in order. Give me till next week at least.
Cheers, all.
Posted by jj at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2005
Late night/early morning reads
Okay so it's 4am and I'm awake. Yes it's annoying, but I might as well use the time efficiently. Have been fascinated by two articles I have been reading since about 3:30am. One relates to the rise of BitTorrent and the support it has received from the Hollywood community in spite of the fact that it's another way to distribute pirated content. This is a Fortune Magazine article and long, but well worth the read. The other item of interest that has of course attracted my attention is the latest State of the Blogosphere post from Technorati. Looks like the blogosphere just continues to grow at phenomenal rates. It's not even plateauing. This is just extraordinary.
Thanks also to Pete Laurie for his sensational recommendation of the report from the US National Science Foundation workshop on Creativity Support Tools, which took place in June this year and the report was released late September. This is a remarkable piece of work and absolutely vital to the research ACID is conducting - thanks Pete, you rock.
Posted by jj at 4:15 AM | Comments (1)
October 17, 2005
On Employment
It's true that I have been enjoying my job far too much. Yes, in spite of the long hours, the political, economic and research complexities of my position, I have managed to enjoy every second of my time with ACID. Even the 'bad' bits. That's a rather huge admission.
I probably should be far more concerned about the fact that I am about to put myself into a very difficult position as Project Manager of major commercial projects at ACID, as I'm about to cut a budget by a fairly large sum. And by "fairly large" I'm talking more than the cost of the average Ferrari. This won't be easy, but it's necessary if ACID are going to sustain business over time. And this is what most organisations are about: it's not lack of ideas that is pandemic in business today; it's budget and risk assessment. Unless there is a strong indication of return on investment, there is simply no reason to support a business plan.
Interesting times. I'll publish an article on this subject in coming days. A draft will be available here. Stay tuned.
Posted by jj at 9:07 PM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2005
Home again, home again, jiggety wet.
Why do I always get the bumpy flights? I have arrived home to buckets of rain after beautiful weather down south.
Another microwave visit to Melbourne has resulted in one business deal possibly stuffed, but another possibly forged. Thanks to Mum for having me overnight (for... what was it? Not quite 8 hours?) and to Van for looking after me en route to the airport! *hugs to all those I missed* No offence intended folks - it's just a timing thing.
Posted by jj at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
In the blogs....
Some odd main stories in the blogs today. Three in particular are worth noting. One I am saddened by, one amuses me, and the other is close to disturbing.
The first is the sad news that the entire set history of the telemovies of Wallace and Gromit has been destroyed by fire at a warehouse in Bristol, England. The sets from the recent film are okay but the early history is all gone.
The second item is both bizarre and amusing as the Catholic Church now are admitting that much of the bible probably shouldn't be considered entirely accurate. It's only taken them a couple of millenia. Nice one Benedict! They don't call you Pope Rat for nothing, do they?
The final item is something I'm having trouble with. In Belgium, UNICEF has released an advertisement portraying the horrors of war from a children's perspective, using Smurf characters from the much-loved cartoon series. I actually admire the approach from an academic and marketing perspective, because once you've worn out traditional means of shocking people, taking something as charming as a beloved childhood cartoon and thrusting it into the misery and carnage of war is extremely effective. But there's also something inside me that wavers on this issue. It's not the broadcast scheduling or the fact that the issue of the impact of war on children should be disregarded... I guess I'm just wondering what parts of our lives should be sequestered from exploitation for marketing purposes. I understand and value the message that needs to be communicated. But somehow I feel that in using these images, we're proving, rather than preventing, the impact of war.
Posted by jj at 8:10 PM | Comments (2)
Not dead; busy.
Have recovered from the horrendous golfing injuries (!!!) and returned to work, a little wiser and a little more careful with my follow through swing. However I haven't quite resorted to wearing little woolen hats with pom poms around the office. Not yet, anyway.
In the meantime I have been developing project orders, budgets, and needs reports for commercial programs at ACID, in the lead up to our Innovation Forum tomorrow and meetings in Melbourne in coming days.
I shall update everyone about the finer things in life, the issues that face us and the political debacle facing the government in the wake of Industrial Relations changes over the next few days. Probably mid flight.
Posted by jj at 12:43 PM | Comments (2)
October 7, 2005
Golf
Can't type. Forearms swollen. Bad soft tissue and wrist injury. No bones broken. Lots of pain though. More later.
Posted by jj at 5:45 AM | Comments (5)
October 4, 2005
Ugh
Home. Finally.
Posted by jj at 10:00 PM | Comments (1)
So that's what the Indian Ocean looks like
I'm stuck in Perth airport as my flight has been delayed by 2 hours due to fog in Brisbane delaying an earlier flight. Oh joy. Thank goodness for Qantas Club.
Posted by jj at 2:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 1, 2005
What's 'hot' and what's not.
It's true that I have sources of digital products that have been liberated from their indentured existence. But in consuming some of these liberated products during the past 24 hours, I am motivated to be as harsh in my review as the executives who elected not to take the option of continuing the series.
Or, to put it more basically, the series Firefly, upon which the recent Joss Whedon film Serenity is based, is mildly entertaining, but generally pedestrian.
An untidy hodge podge of 1970s westerns, The A Team, Buffy and Lexx, Firefly just doesn't break any new ground. The stories are relatively predictable, to the point where by the end of each week's introduction, you can name the film(s) it's ripping off. (And yes, given the 'history' of the source of this review, the irony of that isn't lost on me.)
Finally, and as seems quite common in Whedon productions, the characters are only interesting if they are larrikin men. The women are either lesbians, warriors, children or whores - or any combination of these - and they are constantly irritating. But probably more irritating are the fans who think Whedon actually likes women. With the possible exception of Zoe (whose need to subject herself to her captain still grates), I've been really hoping the rest of the women would just all get blown out of the airlock so that an interesting program could emerge. I keep getting disappointed.
Yes, I know I'm harsh. But in the past I've not really been a huge fan of Joss Whedon's work. When it came to Buffy and Angel, the characters I liked were always the baddies. In Firefly, there's really only Mal to admire. The rest are all either bland, a bit stupid, irritating or so supremely annoying that you just want to asphyxiate them and be done with it. And yes, in the final category, I am referring to Inara and River. And given you're supposed to care about those characters, I imagine that was reason enough to can the series.
I will go see Serenity and I imagine it will be worth a look. But while the series may be hot, a revelation, it's not.
Posted by jj at 11:49 AM | Comments (3)