Funding the Australia we want

31 March 2023 by Glenn Barnes

Governance

Allegra Spender is attempting to catalyse a conversation on holistic tax reform and get the government to move away from piecemeal change.

Jim Chalmers claims to use a “staged, methodical approach” to tax reform.

There is a problem for them both. The average Australian does not trust the political class or the elites to fairly and equitably manage tax reform.

We need to engage everyday citizens in a deliberative forum to answer the question: How do we fund the Australia we want? Then all can understand the required trade-offs to government services and taxes and the reasons for them.

What do you think?

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Comments

PVAM @ 2023.04.06 6:24 AM
One significant issue is the need for a national investment strategy to pay for good land/environment stewardship. Landcare and a bunch of other organisations have made the case convincingly, but so far with little traction. See https://landcarensw.org.au/funding-rural-stewardship-the-case-for-significant-reform/

Glenn Barnes @ 2023.04.06 7:39 AM

Landcare and all causes that support a sustainable and civil society on our planet requires consideration and appropriate funding.

However, the way our governments operate, we lack the trust in political leadership, vision and persuasiveness to agree on what needs to be done and how to fund this. That is why I call for a deliberative forum engaging everyday citizens to address the issues and suggest the best way. The extent of the challenge requires the "wisdom of the crowd" to be applied. Sacrifices will need to be made across civil society if we are to live sustainably.

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