LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
#61
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
I was making a comment only around the 'if you don't like it, move' point. There are others here making similar comments. My view is just that I am surprised they didn't do a transitional arrangement at least for families earning say up to a certain income (150K, 100K, whatever someone things is not 'excessive' which given what I have seen of the Aussie thought process here is a pretty low number vs what Americans or Brits think is big money) can have another 6 months, a year, maybe two to adjust and/or make plans to move home in a more ordered manner. It isnt easy for people to pull kids out of school etc all while dealing with a 25% or more effective pay cut. At the least you would have thought they might give companies the ability to write off on their taxes the costs of allowing 457's with families to move back home via an emergency relocation package.
For a single guy like me on good pay that has lived around the world, you are right, I can 'move' easy and will entertain offers in other parts of Asia over time. I moved here to experience Australia as much as anything else- but some of these familes that moved prior to the announcement last year have been shafted.
For a single guy like me on good pay that has lived around the world, you are right, I can 'move' easy and will entertain offers in other parts of Asia over time. I moved here to experience Australia as much as anything else- but some of these familes that moved prior to the announcement last year have been shafted.
#62
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 131
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
Yes but I didn't say 'move, even if its with a moments notice'. I think it's important for everyone to consider the cost of living wherever they live. I sympathize with anyone who has to adjust so quickly to this change. But, don't put your kids in school based on your LAFHA income. Don't get a stupid high rental based on LAFHA. If you have to rely on it, you probably can't afford to live here.
To be fair also, last year when LAFHA was marketed to people (myself included as I had another option to move out this way early last year) it was pitched by firms as a part of salary - typically they spoke to you in terms of take home pay and talked about low taxes in Australia and that it had been in place for years. So the idea that some firms might (or should) help with transitional funds maybe at least for school fees makes sense to me. I suspect the mining and especially banking firms will do this - I am in banking and many expats on 457s are important to the banks because they are just here for a couple years and then will be repositioned somewhere else like Manila, so the last thing a bank wants to do is piss them off since they are often core international talent with options.
#63
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
If 457 Visa holders got the same tax rights as everyone else it wouldn't be an issue.
LAFHA barely made up for cost of education and no refund of childcare costs, ditch LAFAH and give us them.
LAFHA barely made up for cost of education and no refund of childcare costs, ditch LAFAH and give us them.
#65
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
So the ones already claiming LAFHA on that basis will have 2 years to sort their situation out and new claimants will only have 12 months.
#67
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
same ole same ole.....'I never had it so ***** you all' posts without any common sense thought of families and those who planned, maybe naively' around that fact that LAFHA was a constant component of the Australian tax system.
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
#68
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 168
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
same ole same ole.....'I never had it so ***** you all' posts without any common sense thought of families and those who planned, maybe naively' around that fact that LAFHA was a constant component of the Australian tax system.
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
#69
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
same ole same ole.....'I never had it so ***** you all' posts without any common sense thought of families and those who planned, maybe naively' around that fact that LAFHA was a constant component of the Australian tax system.
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
And company's will, and should, pay for the skills they need. Nothing crap about that.
#70
Just Joined
Joined: Feb 2012
Location: UK
Posts: 19
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
Can you advise the difference in salary packagaing vs LAFHA as presumably salary packaging continues and therefore would prove beneficial. and they appear to be very similar ???
#71
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,040
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
I don't
This is a first time this government has stopped an unecassary handout. It is the opposite to what's happening with the mining and carbon taxes. I condone state welfare of any type and fully endorse a policy of supporting the achievers.
Quite frankly I don't want my taxes supporting the extra benefits, LAHFA included. If it affects you that greatly speak to your employers. They should help you, not the taxpayer.
This is a first time this government has stopped an unecassary handout. It is the opposite to what's happening with the mining and carbon taxes. I condone state welfare of any type and fully endorse a policy of supporting the achievers.
Quite frankly I don't want my taxes supporting the extra benefits, LAHFA included. If it affects you that greatly speak to your employers. They should help you, not the taxpayer.
#72
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
same ole same ole.....'I never had it so ***** you all' posts without any common sense thought of families and those who planned, maybe naively' around that fact that LAFHA was a constant component of the Australian tax system.
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
'If you don't like it then leave' or 'If the company needs your skill they will pay' crap from those who are not personally affected. Maybe if you WERE personnaly affected then your blunt ripostes may reduce.
p.s. Knockoff Nige, I appreciate your comments BTW
I remember when Labour first came in and some of the means-tested handouts became unavailable to many because the income thresholds were lowered. It annoyed me at the time (although we were still on a 457 awaiting our PR then) because we fell in that murky area of being just over and so not really wealthy, but as I had never counted on that money to finance my lifestyle, I didn't find it a big deal. It would have been a nice bonus to get it but it made no difference not to get it. LAFHA should have been looked at in the sameway by recipients from foreign lands.
And yes, I did find it annoying that a tax relief that was meant for people who were sent interstate for work and had to MAINTAIN 2 homes was being used by people who were coming from overseas and renting out their house (or even worse, not even having a house any more - I have friends who did that) in the UK or elsewhere. Those people were lucky it lasted as long as it did. It's over now, build a bridge and get over it.
Now for the million $ question: which government will have the balls to reform negative gearing?
#73
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,040
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
I think 'naively' is the operative word in your rant above. As others have said, if you planned your life and finances around the LAFHA, you should also have kept in mind that NOTHING is constant in politics and finances. The GFC has shown us that. Previous governments have shown us that too, by moving many of the goalposts for handouts and tax relief over the years.
I remember when Labour first came in and some of the means-tested handouts became unavailable to many because the income thresholds were lowered. It annoyed me at the time (although we were still on a 457 awaiting our PR then) because we fell in that murky area of being just over and so not really wealthy, but as I had never counted on that money to finance my lifestyle, I didn't find it a big deal. It would have been a nice bonus to get it but it made no difference not to get it. LAFHA should have been looked at in the sameway by recipients from foreign lands.
And yes, I did find it annoying that a tax relief that was meant for people who were sent interstate for work and had to MAINTAIN 2 homes was being used by people who were coming from overseas and renting out their house (or even worse, not even having a house any more - I have friends who did that) in the UK or elsewhere. Those people were lucky it lasted as long as it did. It's over now, build a bridge and get over it.
Now for the million $ question: which government will have the balls to reform negative gearing?
I remember when Labour first came in and some of the means-tested handouts became unavailable to many because the income thresholds were lowered. It annoyed me at the time (although we were still on a 457 awaiting our PR then) because we fell in that murky area of being just over and so not really wealthy, but as I had never counted on that money to finance my lifestyle, I didn't find it a big deal. It would have been a nice bonus to get it but it made no difference not to get it. LAFHA should have been looked at in the sameway by recipients from foreign lands.
And yes, I did find it annoying that a tax relief that was meant for people who were sent interstate for work and had to MAINTAIN 2 homes was being used by people who were coming from overseas and renting out their house (or even worse, not even having a house any more - I have friends who did that) in the UK or elsewhere. Those people were lucky it lasted as long as it did. It's over now, build a bridge and get over it.
Now for the million $ question: which government will have the balls to reform negative gearing?
As for which government will have the balls to sort negative gearing. None. Too many politiians have multiple investment properties where the mortgage repayments aren't covered by rent. It's a shame because it keeps the property prices high and 8 times the average salary which is so far different to most other places in the rest of the developed world
#74
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 168
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
Simply by reading this single sentence I can tell with certainty that you know sweet f**k all. Go join Julia you will excel.
#75
Re: LAFHA - Budget 2012/13
Really? I think a lot of people would agree with that single sentence. What f**k all is it we are missing? Please do enlighten.