The Cassandra Complex

So, John Howard and his sidekick Peter Costello have released next year's budget, coming (as expected) with a slew of tax cuts. I haven't looked at it in detail, but my reading of the news this morning is that I can expect an extra $10-15 a week... which may even be enough to cover the increased cost of the mortgage interest rates hike. Maybe. It won't cover the increased petrol prices as well though.

But the idea of taking the money leaves a bad taste in my mouth.* I can't get past the fact that I feel like John Howard has simply been lucky that he's in power during the commodities boom, and that he's using that good luck to bribe people into forgetting all of the horrific changes he's made since he got control of the Senate. Which is of course what he's doing.

I'd be happier if, instead of tax cuts, the money had been spent on more useful stuff to the community, like hospitals or child care. Even though I don't have children. But I guess that's what makes me a Labor voter instead of a Liberal voter - the fact that I think the government could do things that are good for the community with the money rather than slashing everything and giving money back to the taxpayer with a "well, now you can pay for the stuff we just took off you" mentality.

A demonstration of said mentality, from ABC News: "One of the best ways to help people with high petrol prices is to put money in their pockets," [John Howard] said. "Fiddling around with the excise or some sort of subsidy scheme on the commodity itself is not the answer. The answer is to put more money into people's pockets."

But perol subsidies would've helped, right? Instead of fiddling around with tax cuts?

Anyway... I heard Kim Beazley on the radio this morning saying he thought the Australian voter was smart enough to see through all the tax cut bribery and remember the crap this government has pulled since the last election (and before that). Wish I had his confidence; I didn't think they'd get elected last time.

It's all very depressing.

* And before someone comes out with a smarmy "well if you don't want to take the tax cut then don't" comment, that's not possible, is it? The system doesn't allow for that sort of contribution. I suppose I could run a few red lights over the course of the year and pay the money back to the government that way. Or, hey, buy petrol for my car and pay them in subsidies.