Labor’s proposal, which will operate from July 1 next year if the party wins the election, would enable parents to make a one-off claim against the value of a laptop or PC if it was bought outright. If the computer was leased, parents would be able to make a claim for the rebate against the annual cost of the lease.
However, if the computer was used for purposes other than education, parents would only be able to claim against a proportion of the cost, in line with the apportionment rules that govern tax claims against computers used for business purposes.
Parents would be able to buy their child a new PC or laptop each year and lodge a claim for a rebate each year if the computer was bought outright.
If a child broke or lost a laptop, a replacement could be claimed in line with existing ATO rules.
Quite aside from making Gerry Harvey richer, this plan should be good for another 50 pages of tax legislation. Like most such plans it will disproportionately favour the better-off, because they are more likely to have the tax planners who can pick out these little tax snacks.
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4 Comments
Jacques
Good point! This is the sort of pointless tinkering that Gordon Brown has persisted with for ten years now. Financial planners will be happy, so will accountants and the wealthy.
Good luck in your campaign!
The other thing they don’t seem to have touched on is the fact that it is tied to the Family Tax Benefit. For people like my mum, with a 16 year old in grade 11, there will be no rebate. My brother’s income is assessed as Youth Allowance (which is incidentally lower than the amount my mum got from the FTB-A and FTB -B).
Conditional welfare is always problematic, which is why the LDP’s plan of unconditional welfare, based solely on income is so good. It removes all these loopholes, provides money for those that need it- not those that can exploit the system.
This is typical, a proposal being brought forward as a helping hand for the less fortunate but in actual fact it is quiet the opposite. Sometimes i wonder how the people who decide on these pollicies sleep at night. Nothing worse then telling someone you’ll help them learn to walk, and then cutting their legs out from under them. This is how i see this new move from the ALP
I feel the same, Trent, which is why I’m running. Politicians from both major parties are too well informed and too well advised to pretend they don’t know that their policies will do more harm than good. It really does upset me.