I know a lot of people run there own companies on here, as do I. I think this sums it up brillantly. To All My Valued Employees, There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job; however, is the changing political landscape in this country. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Subaru Outback outside. You've seen my big home at last year's Christmas party. I'm sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealised thoughts about my life. However, what you don't see is the back story. I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 2 bedroom flat for 3 years. My entire living area was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you. My diet consisted of baked beans, stew and soup because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a wonky transmission. I didn't have time to go out with women. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50,000 a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the David Jones for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had. So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Subaru, the vacations... you never realise the back story and the sacrifices I've made. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their pay suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why: I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a accountant to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a cheque to the Australian tax Office for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" cheque was? Zero. Zip. Zilch. The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare cheque? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country. The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your pay you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had the government suddenly mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Canberra black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now. When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of Australia and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. But the power brokers in Canberra believe the poor of Australia are the essential drivers of the Australian economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep. So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your 4WD and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalises the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship. So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a politicians that swept through this country changed its financial landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.... Signed, Your boss Someone should send it to a Mr Rudd
recycled dribble from a pack of losers who can't think for themselves an absolute load of bollocks written by a myopic dropkick, everyone is to blame but themselves attitude
But what would Johnny do!! Why didn't Johnny get rid of payroll tax(for starters!) when he was in office He had 11years to get rid of that stupid tax and .... nothing... Cmon ppl they are as bad as each other
I agree with Speedcore, payroll tax should be abolished and although it is a state tax the Howard Government had the opportunity to force the states to abolish it with the introduction of GST.
The bottom line is exactly the same for employers as it is for employees - is is worth it for ME? Taxes, wages etc are just part of running a business same as buying equipment or raw material. If you can't make the numbers work to your satisfaction, get out of it. I ask again, as I did some time ago and got no sensible answers, for all those bagging the current government - what would YOU do? Turnbull's solution of tax cuts forgets that thanks to the Howard gov'ts "family" push, the average wage earning family pays NO nett tax, hence would have no benefit from a tax cut. Maybe a cut in the company tax would make sense, but I haven't heard anyone propose it.
How about this one? ----------- I have a proposal for how we can solve the current economic crises within Australia (and possibly even the world). It's really quite simple, and consists of a few key principals that will make Australia the greatest country on earth, and also the most fair and free. Firstly some background information.Australia has a population of approximately 21.5 million people, a gdp of approximately $1Trillion dollars and a land area of 7,741,220 km^2. Firstly I propose that as we have seen in the last few months, the Prime Minister (AKA the Chairman of the Cabinet), and his Labor Party (henceforth referred to as the party), know much better than any of us what we each need and what is best for us. Therefore I propose that we no longer need elections as they only serve the purpose of limiting the time period over which the party's goals can be achieved. We have had changing balances of power over the last 108 years and since it is safe to assume that each time a new Chairman has been elected, they have been better than the previous, it is a correct assumption that Chairman Rudd is the greatest in our history. Secondly, since "a team is only as fast as his slowest man", it is clear that how rich our richest person is isn't nearly as important as how rich our poorest person is. Therefore the second goal of the party is the abolition of private accumulation of wealth. This includes the abolition of all inheritence, private ownership of superfluous assets and the introduction of a new tax scheme. The new tax scheme aims to provide each Australian with an equal oppertunity regardless of intelligence, aspiration, motivation or desire. Starting from July 1st Chairman Rudd proposes that the tax rate is raised to 100% for all people. Once the Party's central bank has control of this unhealthy excess wealth it will be redistributed to each person evenly, minus a percentage kept by the government for services such as health and education. These services are equate to about 20% of total GDP. Let x be each persons annual stipend GDP = ~1,000,000,000,000 Pop = ~21,500,000 x = (GDP*0.8)/Pop x=~46510 Each man who supports the chairman and the party will from July 1 receive an annual stipend of $46510. In order to maintain greater equality the archaic notion of land ownerships (a throwback to feudal times) shall be abolished. Each person shall be allocated a house and plot of farming land exactly according to his needs. Families may have houses no bigger than is necessary to maintain a healthy existence. Overall this will result in each person owning approximately 0.37 km^2 (land area/population, subtracting what Chairman Rudd has deemed necessary land for mining of precious party resources). With this new system each man will be able to produce the sustenance necessary to keep himself alive when during the 3 days he is not working at one of the parties glorious factories. As mentioned previously the Party, with direct oversight from Chairman Rudd will ensure that each child in Australia receives free education and training in the arts of argriculture and manufacturing. Where more specialised training is required such as in the fields of Engineering, Medicine and Intelligence, this training will also be provided by the Party. For utmost efficiency these people shall be chosen by the Party, usually from within party ranks, but extending to children and relatives of Party members to extend the equality of the system. To maintain utmost happiness there will be universal free healthcare to every man in Australia as deemed necessary by the Party (under his greatness Chairman Rudd's oversight). No expense shall be spared in making sure each man can continue working all his days. Such that this is not possible it shall be made possible through Chairman Rudd's greatness by reducing the man's allocated days. Of course some of you may object to my proposal, and this has also been incorporated into my manifesto. Should any man commit slander, sedition or treason against the Party or The Chairman, he shall be calmly transferred to one of the parties institutions where he can renew his education in on of the glorious free schools. After this he shall have no problem returning to work laying the new infrastructure in one of the many workpower consolidation camps around the country! As you can see this system will ensure equality, happiness, and provide a greater standard of living for every Australian. Thank you for listening. I see no need to discuss this any further.
i admire you king for your honesty, very refreshing. i feel others on here have chosen to hide fom the criticism, whether that criticism is correct or not. *applauds*
Yes, they are! They are both idiots!! Well, the people that tell them what to do are idiots! I was just saying that I didnt vote for Krudd! I had grown fond of that bald guy with the one eyebrow over the last 11 years!
lol. When I came to live in Oz on Feb 1, 1992, that's all I could afford, only cost $1500. 1975 Toyota Corolla, but at least mine was reliable. 2 Door. I was happy at the time. Agree with the post.
nope , he wasnt in touch with modern times and i thought he had his own agenda of how the country should be run , then again they are both evil i just picked the lesser of to evils.............
were your ears burning yesterday ? PP and I were saying how you're the smartest man we've ever met outside the MENSA academy he loved how you take every innuendo literally and end up taking it "in the end, oh"
Isn't an innuendo an Italian suppository??? Back to the subject....ever year for about the last fifty that I recall, we have had floods in the north and fires in the south...all the egg-heads say it can't be done and no politician these days thinks beyond their noses....but why can't we pipe, canal/divert rivers further south?? A slice of the $42Bn action would certainly kick things off... Ohhh well...all pigs fed and ready to fly :-(