Turn 35 Aussie cents into hospitals, schools, roads, very fast trains, flood mitigation and new airports
AU$3.5 billion
Last week, I listened to a friend as he started to Whinge, with a capital 'W', about the Gillard Government. He suggested that 'something needed to change' and that Australia needed a 20% GST just like the VAT level in the UK. I replied that increasing the GST had not helped the UK recover from the 2008 GFC. He looked shocked.
I reminded him that a great deal of Australia's GST goes undisclosed. I suggested that if the coffee- drinking population of Australia asked for a receipt each time each Aussie and every tourist bought a coffee, coffee drinkers would have a better chance of seeing that the tax they have paid to the coffee maker goes into the nation's coffers. Remember in the UK, VAT includes fresh food, which Australia's GST does not.
So how many cups of coffee are consumed every day in Australia? How many receipts are issued for these coffees? The difference between coffee served and coffee tax declared is phenomenal. If you are happy to pay the tax but wonder why Australia's infrastructure is still behind other first world countries, make your coffee tax work for you. Each cup of coffee can add 35 cents to the Australian Treasury.
Every time you buy a coffee and add in a sandwich/cake/pizza/hamburger etc to the bill, take the time to ask for a receipt as you hand over the cash. Better still, charge your bill to your credit card. This simple ten second action is you putting your taxes to work. The shop owner cannot refuse to give you a receipt.
So how much coffee do Aussies drink per year? According to the link below about 1 billion per year outside our homes and of those 480 million are cappuccinos! What about the lattes, macchiatos and all the other variations, chocolates and teas?
http://www.howsafeisyourfood.com.au/articles/164-so-how-much-coffee-do-we-drink.html
1billion coffees x AU$3.50 = AU$3.5billion
Read the article below for some 2006 coffee drinking statisticshttp://www.smh.com.au/news/good-living/coffee-by-numbers/2006/07/17/1152988455398.html
Why pay more tax like my friend suggests?
Help the Australian government to collect all the GST on your cup of coffee. Just ask for a receipt!
