Your say: week beginning September 14

From the Editors

Notes from The Conversation newsroom

Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.

Monday September 14

“Your article ‘Cutting the tobacco excise won’t stop the illegal trade. This is how other countries solved the problem’ was novel in that it introduced prosecuting ‘tax evasion’ for the first time that I can remember in this debate. But governments would do well to remember that it was tax and health experts who framed the stupid tobacco tax in the first place. Look where it has led us. Experts should also not forget the lessons of the Capital Duplicators case in the High Court in 1991, when the porn industry took the ACT government to task over its tax on X-rated videos.”

Robbie Swan

“With regards to housing shortages as mentioned in your article titled ‘Australia has a housing shortage. So why are Bathla and other home builders collapsing?’, it amazes me that individuals can expect to own or rent their own personal home; it has never been the case in history, and I’m not certain humans are designed to live alone. Think of all those empty bedrooms across the country, and the pensioners with homes who struggle to pay bills but are discouraged from renting spare rooms because it could reduce their pension. A good example of how it can work are two couples buying one home (four incomes) and renovating to divide the house; most people will tell you of family backgrounds where extended families shared and many took in boarders. I own my home and I want as many people as possible to own their own home too, but really we need to change the tax laws to incentivise people to share.”