Your say: week beginning September 14
On tobacco tax and sharing the cost of housing: an edited selection of your views.
September 14 marked the beginning of a new week for our readers, and we continue to welcome your valuable insights. Here are two letters that caught our attention:
Robbie Swan wrote in response to our article titled "Cutting the tobacco excise won't stop the illegal trade. This is how other countries solved the problem." He noted that while the piece introduced the idea of prosecuting 'tax evasion' for the first time, it was tax and health experts who originally framed the tobacco tax. Swan argued that experts should learn from the Capital Duplicators case in the High Court in 1991, where the porn industry took the ACT government to court over its tax on X-rated videos.
In another letter, Christine Crowe responded to our article "Australia has a housing shortage. So why are Bathla and other home builders collapsing?" She questioned why individuals expect to own or rent their own home, as it has never been the norm throughout history. Crowe pointed out the numerous empty bedrooms across the country and the struggles pensioners face in paying bills while discouraged from renting spare rooms to increase their pension.
She suggested that sharing homes could be a viable solution, citing examples of families and extended families sharing spaces, and even people taking in boarders. Crowe, who owns her home, wishes for more people to own their own homes but believes tax laws need to be changed to incentivize sharing.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
