I think it’s weird we all run from the notion of socialism, but we are a democratic-socialist nation.
- Health care
- Education
- Roads
- Social Security
- Government
- Parks Services
All paid for via taxation, as a society we pay for these.
In addition to this:
- Medical Research
- Science Research
- Telephony/Communications
- Power
- Banking
- Public transport
All often originate as tax-payer funded industries or businesses and over time have been sold off to private industry, to the expense the tax payer who often loses access to ongoing profits from the businesses they helped establish.
With the services we still pay for, the ones in the top group, these are often sold to us as “free” services. But this is something we need to stop doing. They need to be referred to as tax-funded services.
We need to do this so when the government says “Hey, we’re awesome, we’re going to give you a tax cut. Massive tax cut for some people, aren’t we great?” we can say back… but what are we going to have to give up to get this meagre cut? What services are you going to be taking away?
Over the past few years we have seen freezes on Medicare, removal of some services from health care. We’ve seen cuts to education and other health services.
Nothing is free; we need to ensure our essential services continue to be well-funded. When things are privatised we end up paying a lot more for it than we do via taxes. When a market is opened to competition we’re told it makes things cheaper, but it never has. Banking has never been more expensive, energy has never been more expensive, higher education has never been more expensive… competition = lower prices and better choice for the consumer is a lie.
Essential services is not a misnomer. They are essential. We need health, education, and infrastructure to keep our society strong and continuing. We need every Australian to ask the question… what are you taking away before saying “Yay, I’m getting a tax cut!”