To tax or not to tax, that is the question. Whether to allow global corporations to continue plundering our resources for little return, or, by grabbing the corporate bull by the horns, make them pay their way.
Philosopher and author A.C. Grayling explained to a packed audience at Brunswick Picture House last week how democracy is not working here, nor in the US or UK and authoritarianism is on the rise.
When Abraham Lincoln declared in 1863 that government is ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ it was anything but that, unless you were a middle-aged white man.
Women didn’t gain the right to vote in America until 1920!
Today in Australia, whilst the franchise has been extended to all adults aged 18 and over, six hundred thousand people aged 16 and 17 are denied the right to vote, even though they can drive cars, use social media, work, and pay taxes.
Many countries are righting this injustice including the UK.
Even when citizens exercise their right to vote, they usually elect a single political party to form government and as A.C. Grayling pointed out, it effectively becomes a one-party state for the duration of their term in office, as partisanship rules.
I witnessed this as an MP in the NSW parliament. Liberal and Labor members voting in a division often had no idea what they were voting on. They were told how to vote with no freedom to choose.
They represented the wishes of the party not voters who elected them.
This is why independent teals have grabbed many formerly safe Liberal seats. They genuinely represent the people who vote for them.
Corporations do not make multi-million donations to political parties for charitable purposes. They are not wasting money employing over 700 lobbyists in Canberra, outnumbering MPs more than three to one.
They expect, and get, a return on their investment.
So, today it’s more a case of ‘government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations’.
After all, corporations are legally considered people!
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is facing tough choices as the May budget is impacted by Trump’s insane war on Iran.
Sadly, the most vulnerable will be the first to feel the squeeze. They have no power to fight back, no media barons to wage war for them, no billionaires batting on their behalf.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is being wound back and hundreds of thousands of people needing assistance will be abandoned to fend for themselves.
This massive cutback will slash jobs of those desperately trying to pay inflated rents, higher fuel and food costs. They are being thrown on the scrap heap.
Yes, rorts need to be dealt with, but that must not mean depriving desperate people of care.
As those cruel savings are made, the defence budget is being ramped up to prepare for war – with whom? Our number one trading partner?
We are still locked into that crazy, wasteful AUKUS deal made with an unreliable former ally that no other country trusts.
Independents and Greens, not beholden to corporations, are demanding that fossil fuel behemoths exporting our gas should pay the Australian people a fair price for our resources.
Their demand for a 25 per cent export tax is way too modest, 50 per cent would be more appropriate. That would generate real income and relieve pressure on the budget.
As former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry said bluntly in a hearing of the Senate select committee into taxation of Australia’s gas resource, ‘Just do it. In the national interest, just do it and stop the crap the Australian public have put up with for decades now’.
The Albanese government is finally talking about restoring the capital gains tax crippled by John Howard, and winding back negative gearing. These have caused massive problems for young people desperately trying to acquire homes.
Of course, rich landlords will squeal, and foreign corporations declare that they will no longer invest in Australia. Their voices will be amplified by billionaire-controlled media and their lackeys on opposition benches.
That should be mere background noise for the government when making important decisions on behalf of the real people of Australia, to restore some justice to the tax system, and finally take steps to deal with the gross inequality that has grown exponentially since neoliberalism was thrust upon us by Reagan and Thatcher.
The taxation burden currently falls far too heavily on workers paying income tax.
One Nation polling has increased because of dissatisfaction with major parties and their corporation-driven policies. Pauline’s Trump-style policies will make matters worse as they have for Americans, but these disgruntled battlers are desperate.
Bold action to rectify inequality and deal with some of their grievances will relieve pressure on ordinary households and transform the political landscape.
Government of the people, by the people, for the people must be restored. Just stop the crap.
Richard Jones is a former NSW MLC, and is now a ceramist.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
