John Passant

Poem: Have you heard their voices?

The young as they cry out

The old as they die out

The middle aged as they shout

And the silence from the so-called leaders

Engulfs our lives

 

'Do something' we scream at them,

The do nothings

Who knit their rugs

Of self-protection

And doing nothing

With words like

'We are meeting our targets'

And 'we are leading the world'

Along with other lies

We no longer accept

 

And so we gather on our streets

While they still do nothing

On franking credits and superannuation: Tax ruling class Gina not working-class Nanna

John Passant takes a look at franking credits and explains what all the fuss is about.

Tackling tax avoidance at the G20

Oxfam released a report in January that found companies have hidden between $21 trillion and $32 trillion in offshore bank accounts to escape paying tax. That amount is double US GDP or about 20 times Australian GDP. One of the issues that will be discussed at the G20 meeting in Brisbane is how to set up an international framework to stop this tax avoidance. Unfortunately, it will not work.