I have written to-day, in the post below, on this blog about the Story of Broke and, over at Miss Eagle's Garage Sale there is this post and this post. My blogging friend, Leanne, from across The Ditch who writes at Hazeltree Farm has left a comment here. Leanne's comment is a brief critique of the Story of Broke and the shortcomings Leanne sees in it. Annie Leonard's work is brilliant - in its own context. When applying its concepts outside its home country of the United States of America, we must consider our own individual contexts for the kernel of Annie's stories to have impact internationally. The Story of Stuff ran well across the globe because so many of us in developed economies are consumers busily consuming. The Story of Broke is about economics - and everywhere is not identical to the USA. Certainly, I believe I can confidently say that Australia, Canada and New Zealand are not. So here are Leanne's points.....
As much as I liked the Story of Stuff, I couldn't help but see that the Story of Broke was full of holes. It didn't even cover the whole bubble economy that has occurred on a lesser level since the 1940s and spiralled since the 1980s, and completely failed to mention, for example, that US citizens (even ordinary ones) pay much lower rates of tax than pretty much any other developed country.
It did, accurately, mention the issue of military spending, unbalanced taxation, lobbying etc., but from what I can see, focusing on only half the story isn't really accurate reporting. The ordinary Joes and Janes of the US (just like here and in Australia) also bought up big, went into debt, and supported the bubble we're now seeing crash all over.
We can't entirely blame the wealthiest 1%, even though that seems like a convenient thing to do. We've all been asleep at the wheel - or most of us have - and now is payment time.
I think this was just a nice, glossy, "let's blame the system" presentation. It's nice to blame others, and "the system", but at some point we also have to point the finger at ourselves too.
Hi Miss Eagle - Just to clarify on the tax rates issue.
ReplyDeleteThe US top tax rate is 35% (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States#Year_2011_income_brackets_and_tax_rates) and this can be income split.
By comparison, the Aussie top tax rate is (if I understand this correctly) 45c in the dollar, plus a medicare levy of 1.5% (source: http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.aspx?doc=/content/12333.htm). No income splitting is currently available.
In New Zealand, the top income tax bracket is also 45c in the dollar (source: http://www.ird.govt.nz/how-to/taxrates-codes/itaxsalaryandwage-incometaxrates.html). No income splitting is currently available.
Income splitting is defined here, but would, in our case for example (where I'm a stay at home mum and my husband is a good income earner) lower our tax load hugely. It reflects household income more accurately, and effectively lowers income tax load further.
In a simple example (I hope I get this right, I'm not a tax accountant!), a couple whose single earner is bringing in $100K would split their tax load, as if both are earning $50K apiece, thereby bringing their income into a lower tax bracket, and paying much less tax.
For comparisons of other countries, Norways top bracket is 47.8%, Sweden's is 59.09% and Japan's is 50% (I've selected these three, because they tend to do well in over social equality metrics). The UK's top bracket is 50%.
Interesting stuff, hey? But I'd guess that if the average US citizen paid a bit more average a tax, compared with the rest of the world, combined with (as Leonard pointed out), the US spending a bit less on the military, the US might not have as many financial problems as they currently do.
Just my thoughts on it all. I also think that the top brackets in Australia and NZ are not nearly high enough, and we need to close off a whole stack of investment loopholes.
But now I'm getting off topic!
Leanne, with that amount of quality information you can get off topic any time you darn well like! And any time you wish to guest post, just be in touch!
ReplyDeleteI'm no taxation expert at all - but one aspect really gets me. Once upon a long ago, we used to have a progressive tax system.
You went to university for free and the government expected to get the cost out of you in tax when you became a top income earner.
Now we churn out students from universities with huge debts at a time of life when they should be focussing not only on building a career but building a life, family, and home.
Universities and other teaching institutions have become corrupted by fee-paying - particularly from overseas students - and, in some areas, quality is not guaranteed by a university education!