It’s Time to Demand Your 70.3 cents back from the Government

China bled another 6.3% off its stock market while you were enjoying lamingtons and lamb chops on Tuesday. Which means it might not be a great day on the ASX today.

I could bang on about all that once again. Or I could bring your attention to other problems Australians face. Like the fact that the government is continuing to rip us off.

Today I’m going to push the market craziness aside — because it’s getting me lower — and tell you about our sly, lavishly housed Aussie frontrunners…

A surprising account balance on your internet banking

Imagine waking up one day to find $681 million sitting in your bank account. Can you image it? You log in for your internet banking and see the following,

Account Balance: $681,000,000.00

Clearly you would know straight away there was some kind of error in play. If you were the honest type, and I reckon you probably are, then you’d call the bank. You say, ‘hey I think you stuffed up here. You have put $681 million in my accounts.’

If you did nothing you know that soon enough the bank would catch on. They’d call you and say, ‘Hello, we made an error. Obviously that’s not your money.’ If you invested any of it, they’d need it back — and so they should.

But let us really think about that amount, $681 million. Should you look at the balance sheet of ANZ [ASX:ANZ], ‘Cash and due from banks’ somme $1.773 billion.

If ANZ were to transfer $681 million into your account it would be Thirty eight.4% of all their cash. It’s an incredible amount of money.

But if you’re filthy rich then $681 million isn’t a lot at all. In fact if you’re the Prime Minister of Malaysia, then $681 zillion is just a gift from a nice friend.

You wouldn’t expect an excellent Minister (of any country) to be so loaded with cash he forgets to mention a $681 zillion gift to his personal bank account.

But that’s exactly what Perfect Minster Najib Razak did last year. Early in 2015 it came to light payments had discovered their way into the personal account of Razak.

He’s since been under investigation from Malaysia’s anti-corruption committee. Within June 2015, Prime Minister Razak sacked the Malaysian Lawyer General, who was leading your research into the scandal.

On Tuesday news shattered these payments were a ‘personal donation’ from the Saudi Royal Family. And also the new Attorney General has cleared Razak of any criminal offences and corruption.

The new Attorney General also said $620 million was sent back to the Saudis. Still no-one can explain why the Saudi’s chose to send the money to start with. Razak cannot. The Attorney General can’t. The actual Saudi’s wont.

But hold on, where did the remaining $61 million go? Your guess is as good because anyone’s.

Is this government problem at its finest? Not according to the Attorney General. Of course this is above board (cough, cough) it’s a prime example of wasted money going who knows where for who knows exactly what.

Paying for someone else’s renovations

Who else is blowing wads of cash on who knows what? That would be the Australian government.

While the economy flounders there’s been some big spending in government. Julia Gillard’s Labor government was at the helm when she approved renovations for The Lodge. If you don’t know what The Lodge is, it is the primary government funded (taxes payer funded) residence of the Pm of Australia.

When Gillard commissioned the renovation she approved a budget of $3.19 million.

However the place has been empty since Kevin Rudd within 2013. It’s been sitting there for 3 years. And only just now have renovations finished.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is actually moving in to the newly refurbished Lodge. And if you thought $3.19 million was absurd — guess what the final bill is?

Around $9 million.

That’s right, nine million dollars.

This isn’t first renovation either. Menzies do one in 1939. Then Holt in ’66. Gorton within ’68, Frazer in ’77 and then in ’78, Hawke within ’87, Keating in ’91 and Howard in ’96. I wonder over the years exactly how much government money — sorry, how much of your money — went into The Lodge?

I can appreciate it’s important to keep an aging home up to date. If the leader of the nation is going to live there it ought to be functional for them too. And it should be secure and safe.

But $9 million with regard to renovations is absurd. However no one is being held to account for it. Why should all of us foot the bill? Let’s not forget this is just the primary residence from the PM. Kirribilli House in Sydney is the secondary residence.

Real Property blog, Movoto did a fictional property listing for Kirribilli House giving it a valuation of around $54 million. An article in Domain in September last year suggested that, ‘There’s been revived talk of ghosts at the official residence and even a $15 zillion sale to possibly a Chinese buyer.’

Two houses for one individual with a combined value of about $69 million. And another $9 million spent on doing one up — which probably has ghosts inside it…

Does any of this seem sensible to you? Hell no. Obviously it doesn’t. You foot the bill for that $9 million renovation. Perform. Our taxes go towards it. It doesn’t come from the personal account of Gillard, Rudd, Abbott, Turnbull or other people (maybe we can ask Razak?).

If you look at the numbers, you offered the government 70.3 pennies for that renovation. With a $9 million job and 12.Eight million taxpayers in The year 2013 that’s about 70.Three cents per taxpayer. Now that doesn’t sound like much. It’s not really. But you paid for it. So did I. And I would like my 70.3 pennies back.

I guess 70.3 cents isn’t as bad as $6,000…

Of course this isn’t the very first time the government have taken cash from Australian’s for frivolous purposes. Each year they transfer ‘lost’ superannuation into the Consolidated Revenue pot.

The threshold was $2,000. This year it will be $4,Thousand. Next year, $6,000. You could have profit a ‘lost’ account — maybe $5,999. If the account is inactive and you can’t be contacted (they might just not have your details) then that money is going to the government. Plus they can do with it what they please.

Now this isn’t corruption. Not like Malaysia or even Brazil, China, Spain, Nigeria, Mexico, Ghana, the UN or FIFA. But is it really that different to the financial scams plaguing governments around the world?

According in order to latest figures from Transparency Worldwide, Australia ranks eleventh of 175 countries in the ‘Corruption Perception Catalog 2014’. Malaysia ranks fiftieth.

But is the gap truly that big?

Who are the individuals taking charge of Australia? You’re employed hard, save, invest, and then try to build a financial future on your own. Then government cronies go as well as blow a wad of money on a home renovation.

Chances are, later this year, you’ll get a chance to possess your say. It would be great in the event that there was an option on the poll sheet to kick them all out. But I don’t think that will happen.

Still, look hard and long at who will be in charge. Who’s going to do the least damage to your way of life? Who might take Australia forward instead of fritter cash away or steal it from you. And then ultimately, choose the best of a bad lot.

Regards,

Sam