income tax

Victoria is outsourcing its essential services for competitive profit and marketing taxpayer-funded 'gifts' to taxpayers as if they were 'free'. The activities of the sector are to be monitored - but only economically - by a new body calledThe Essential Services Commission - which apparently approves of these 'free' gifts. Would you trust people with so little concern for democracy? A concerned citizen expresses her disgust at the whole scammy system, marketed by naive young people cold-calling customers at home. Comment inside from Essential Services Commission

A few years ago the government overhauled its definition of tax-deductible groups and effectively outlawed independent political activism in tax-deductible environmental (and other) groups. What the government was saying was, 'We are not going to fund our potential enemies' political campaigns.'

This was the point where a lot of organisations should probably have decided to ditch their tax-deductibility status because our environment and wildlife protection are so threatened by government-supported corporate development that environmental activism generally requires opposition to most government programs.