Yep, turns out not everyone with a disability is missing an arm. This is what the NDIS is for. Certain types of politicians can’t stand that we are spending a large amount of money on helping people but don’t blink at spending even larger sums on phallic underwater machines of death.

Its absurd to think that traffic fines are any substantial part of the budget but here you go, I did 2-3 minutes of research for you.

In the 2023-24 financial year, fines issued from road safety cameras amounted to $473 million. This figure represents a fraction of the overall cost of speed and distracted driving and seatbelt-related crashes. Link

The total state budget is 111.7 billion. Link

ie. Around half of 1%

I used victoria just because when i typed “traffic camera revenue” into DDG it was the second result.

I wondered about this also, FWIW my solution would be self reporting verified at the time of vehicle sale or end of vehicle life. I believe some states require periodic roadworthy checks which would also be an opportunity for verification.

Real time vehicle tracking is obviously unacceptable.

Governments have never been dependent on speeding fine revenue. This is a myth perpetuated by people who are indignant that they can’t drive recklessly without consequence.

Hmmm, the fact that Rudd tried and failed to carry out a difficult but fundamentally positive reform is not a very strong case against pursuing it again in the future, for better or worse political progress is almost always multiple failed attempts punctuated by small iterative steps forward.

The idea that Murdoch’s influence is down to the consumers is pretty naive. The Murdoch media is so dominant that it has the capacity to poison every narrative, while one can seek alternative sources those sources struggle financially and can’t market themselves to compete effectively. Added to this is the fact that their dominance means that nearly all incidental news exposure will be Murdoch, they are the papers on the stands, they are the news breaks after sports matches, they are favoured by social media algorithms. Not everyone has the time or inclination to put in the substantial daily work to combat this, Murdoch media dominance is a systemic problem, not one of individual choice.

As the article points out, the fuel excise tax does not pay for roads, it goes into general revenue and does not collect enough to pay for the damage done by air pollution. The argument is that roads should be paid for by a tax on vehicle weight and distance travelled whether ICE or EV in addition to the fuel excise tax.

Relevant to our recent exchange, @Zagorath, this helped clarify my thoughts on the topic.

I read the first book and I think it is the first time in decades that I have encountered actual sci-fi concepts that weren’t a reworking of ideas that have been around for decades.

It’s not a character driven novel but the characters are fine, mostly they’re not that likeable - which in my opinion is not a reason to dislike a story - and I think they probably lose something in translation. When I was a teenager I devoured Asimov, Phillip K Dick, Heinlein etc for the concepts, compared to them the characters in 3 Body are masterfully written.

I haven’t yet read the second book as I found the first few chapters a bit of a slog but I plan to pick it up again once I’ve finished rereading some Ursula K LeGuin

Excellent point well made.

I came here to say more or less this.

While funding road upkeep with fuel and car taxes makes sense it isn’t necessary, we don’t fund emergency departments with taxes on trampolines and skateboards for example.

The greater policy need at this point in history is to increase the uptake of electric vehicles(really to reduce the use of fossil fuel vehicles in a variety of ways, including uptake of EVs) and future policy should reflect this, not commitment to past policy.

@Tenderizer @TimePencil

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I’m not going to spend my afternoon doing calculations to prove my point as what is required is doing the same calculations for other nations, the number you’re quoting is not what is meant by marginal tax rate for a start but the linked article provides the context needed.

Again, I have been in the top tax bracket for around a decade and have never paid more than 40% of my taxable income in tax without an accountant

Australia has lower sales taxes, lower income taxes, no requirement for private or employee provided health insurance. It is straightforwardly untrue that Australia is high taxing. Even if it were true then the level of public services provided would make it worthwhile.

Maybe the top tax rate kicks in lower but the tax free threshold is also higher than in most countries which is the correct balance.

The highest marginal tax rate for income earners is over 50%. And it takes effect at much lower incomes than other comparable countries.

In Australia? The highest marginal tax rate is 45%, and due to the nature of progressive taxation unless you have an absurdly high income most of the income of even high earners is taxed at a lower rate.

Source: I am in the top tax bracket and until recently did my own taxes

This comes up periodically and is absolutely true, judged as a liberal economy Australia is generally quite efficiently run with below average taxes and above average services. Which is no excuse for not trying to do better and indeed think outside the liberal box.

More interesting is that the graph “Breakdown of total tax raised in Australia since WWII” under “Other taxes” there is a spike in 1951. It seems to correlate with the USA stockpiling wool as part of their strategic reserve and a subsequent speculative bubble.

https://www.winton.com/news/australias-lesser-known-commodities-booms

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185564703