Oh, You Mean THAT Money...!

UPDATE: GIVEN THAT I KEEP GETTING HITS FROM GOV DOT AU ON THIS POST, I AM GOING TO DIRECTLY ADDRESS THE MEMBERS OF MY GOVERNMENT WHO MAY BE INVOLVED IN THIS CASE AND WHO SEEM FOR SOME BIZZARRE REASON TO ACTUALLY GIVE A FUCK WHAT AN ORDINARY CITIZEN LIKE ME THINKS ABOUT THIS SHIT.

FRANK LOWY IS A CRIMINAL, A RICH BASTARD AND AN ELITE CORPORATE WANKER. PEOPLE LIKE LOWY ARE FUCKING UP OUR ENTIRE PLANET WHILE DECENT HONEST HARDWORKING PEOPLE LIKE ME SLAVE AWAY DAY AFTER DAY PAYING OUR TAXES AND GETTING FUCK ALL FOR OUR EFFORTS. WE PAY TAXES ON PETROL AND GST ON EVERYTHING AND EVEN TAX ON BOOZE WHEN WE CANT TAKE IT ANY MORE, WE GET RIPPED OFF LEFT RIGHT AND CENTER WHILE FUCKHEADS LIKE LOWY LIVE IT UP IN SEVEN STAR HOTELS AND PLUSH RESORTS.

YOU ARE NOW THE GOVERNMENT. AND THIS IS A TIME OF MAJOR GLOBAL FINANCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLITICAL CRISIS. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

JOHN HOWARD IS GONE, THANKS IN LARGE PART TO PEOPLE LIKE ME (SEE HOWARDOUT.BLOGSPOT.COM). SO NOW FIX THE FUCKING PROBLEMS! HOLD THE RICH ACCOUNTABLE! HOLD HOWARD AND HIS STOOGES ACCOUNTABLE! TAKE THE MEDIA BACK FROM ASSWIPES LIKE MURDOCH AND GIVE US A REAL, INDEPENDENT, FREE AND FAIR AUSTRALIA ONCE AGAIN. HOLD WAR CRIMINAL TRIBUNALS AND HAND HOWARD'S ENTIRE CONGA LINE OVER TO THE ICC!

OTHERWISE, GO FUCK YOURSELVES. SERIOUSLY, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT.

I REPEAT: YOU ARE NOW THE GOVERNMENT. PLEASE GOVERN WISELY AND FAIRLY FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME, AND MY CHILDREN.


OTHERWISE, FUCK OFF.

NOW BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST...

Offshore search nets $50m in unpaid tax:

TAX audits of Australians who have held bank accounts in the tax haven of Liechtenstein have already netted $50 million in unpaid tax and penalties, the Australian Taxation Office has revealed.

The billionaire businessman Frank Lowy has identified himself as among the Australians being investigated, but the Tax Office yesterday refused to give details on how many people, or from whom, the money had been recovered.

The second tax commissioner, Jennie Granger, said $20 million had been collected, with another $30 million being processed.

This puts the Tax Office halfway to the estimated $100 million it expects to recoup from people with Liechtenstein accounts.

A separate letter campaign to Australians asking them to voluntarily disclose offshore bank accounts has led to 858 people making disclosures about a combined $36 million in previously undeclared taxable income.

This ATO crackdown is separate from the "high-profile" (except that the media is scared to talk about it) investigation known as Project Wickenby.

On the investigations into the tax haven of Liechtenstein, Ms Granger said it would be up to the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring criminal charges against people if it saw fit. Strict legal requirements prevented the Tax Office from disclosing tax details of individuals.

But of course the DPP won't be laying charges against anyone, least of all Frank Lowy. A few million dollars for the tax man, some big donations to both sides of parliament, a couple of cognacs at the club, and it'll all be forgotten...

Meanwhile, in Bush's USA, things are even worse:

Remember the old Steve Martin routine on how to make a million dollars and not pay taxes: "First, make a million dollars... Second, don't pay taxes." Turns out Martin's joke is standard operating procedure for corporations in the United States -- only, in comparison, Martin was a piker.

Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study on taxes paid by corporations. In what Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) mildly called "a shocking indictment of the current tax system," the GAO found that about two-thirds of corporations operating in the US did not pay taxes annually from 1998 to 2005.

Now most corporations in America are start-ups or small, mom and pop operations that have adopted a corporate form to lower their tax rates. And a greater percentage of large corporations do pay some taxes. But in 2005, with corporate profits reaching new heights as a percentage of national income, the GAO found that over one-fourth -- 28% of large corporations paid no taxes...

Not surprisingly, the income collected from corporations has been declining as a percentage of GDP, with the burden transferred to your income and payroll taxes. According to a study by the Treasury Department, from 2000-2006, an average of 2.2% of GDP was collected in corporate taxes. This compares to an average of 3.4% in other industrial countries.

So what's the US Government going to do about it? Well, Bush and McCain are now campaigning to LOWER THE CORPORATE TAX RATE. I kid you not.