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A comprehensive review of Australia’s tax system will be unveiled with Tuesday’s federal budget - but the GST and tax-free superannuation will be off-limits.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said it was time for a sweeping inquiry into state, federal and local government taxes across the nation, including the potential impact of a carbon emissions trading scheme.
Treasury secretary Ken Henry will head the review, assisted by academics, former tax officials and industry figures.
Mr Swan, who is preparing to hand down the first federal Labor budget in 13 years, said the tax system needed to be more efficient and internationally competitive.
“We think a modern economy needs a modern tax system,” Mr Swan told the Nine Network.
“A modern tax system needs to be efficient, it needs to be internationally competitive. It certainly also needs to be fair, it needs to ensure that everybody pays their fair share, and it needs to be simpler.”
But the government has already ruled out broadening the base of the GST or lifting the rate, and has promised to keep tax-free superannuation.
Mr Swan’s announcement came as he confirmed that he would be lifting the tax on luxury cars priced at more than $57,000 from 25 per cent to 33 per cent in the budget.
The government has already announced a 70 per cent increase in the tax on ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, reaping an extra $2 billion in revenue.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner denied that Labor was heading towards a big-taxing government.
The budget would contain substantial personal tax cuts, as well as an education tax credit and childcare tax rebates, he said.
“All of these things will actually reduce the tax burden, in effect, because it’s giving people money back on their tax,” Mr Tanner said.
“We’re trying to relieve the pressure on inflation, trying to take a bit of the froth off demand, and it’s better to do that at the upper end of the income scales than to hit the battlers, the low-income working people.”

news.theage.com.au

This week, it’s time for Uncle Sam’s spending spree to begin. The first round of economic stimulus money will hit some savings and checking accounts Monday.
Between now and mid-July, more than 130 million Americans will get a tax rebate of $300 to $1,200, or even more depending on their finances and family size. Some taxpayers — including those who have an outstanding problem with their 2007 return — will get their payment later in the year.
We’re talking about $112 billion nationwide — including $3.8 billion in Michigan. We now have one great excuse to buy a kayak — or a pair of hot pink sandals. Some homeowners might want to replace gutters. Shoot, you might pay off some credit card bills. Imagine that.
And we’re getting that money sooner than we thought. President George W. Bush said Friday that the money will begin being direct deposited into accounts Monday instead of Friday.
So, what will you do with your windfall?
We decided to talk to some Michigan families now — and later. We’re asking them how much money they think they’ll get and how they think they’ll spend it. Later this summer, we’ll call these folks back and see what really happened.
The rebate plan got rolling in Washington earlier this year as a way to rescue the U.S. economy from rough weather — similar to the thinking in 2001, the last time the government handed out rebate checks. We’re battling foreclosures, falling home values, job losses, low consumer confidence and tougher lending standards that make it harder for some consumers to borrow money.
So will we spend and enjoy the summer? Or store up that cash fearing the next frost?
What will you do with your windfall?
Yulette Barnes, 36, says dutifully that she’ll put half of her money into a savings account for her 4-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn Rose. She’ll use the rest to buy her only girl a bike, shorts, sandals and other things for summer.

freep.com

Denver, CO (AHN) - A gun belonging to the pilot of a US Airways plane went off as the aircraft was approaching an airport over the weekend. It was for the first time that a weapon issued under a federal program to arm pilots was fired “accidentally”, authorities said.
The plane landed safely in North Carolina on Saturday and no one was injured. The Federal Air Marshal Service says the pilot of Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte did not endanger the aircraft or the 124 passengers.
There were two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, said Greg Alter of the Federal Air Marshal Service. Pilots and other flight attendants are allowed to use a firearm to defend against any act of air piracy or criminal violence after the September 11 attacks.
The Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how the gun discharged and if the plane is now safe. The Airbus A319 has been removed from service now.

allheadlinenews.com

Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., center, along with his wife Cindy, right, and former Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine, left, visits Charlie's Restaurant in Perrysburg, Ohio, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
By The Associated Press – 14 hours ago
IN THE HEADLINES
Clinton and Obama debate in Austin, Texas … McCain says report suggesting inappropriate relationship “not true” … Obama wins Democrats Abroad global primary, his 11th straight victory … FEC chair says McCain can’t withdraw from public financing until loan questions resolved … Change to Win labor federation backs Barack Obama for president … Huckabee casts himself as Washington outsider best to address change … Feingold says he’s ‘inclined’ to support Obama in 2008 race
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton accused presidential rival Barack Obama of political plagiarism Thursday night in a campaign debate, but drew boos from the audience when she ridiculed him as the candidate of “change you can Xerox.”
Obama dismissed the charge out of hand, then turned the jeers to applause when he countered. “What we shouldn’t be spending time doing is tearing each other down. We should be spending time lifting the country up,” he said.
The exchange marked an unusually pointed moment in an otherwise civil encounter in the days before March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio — contests that even some Clinton supporters say she must win to sustain her campaign for the White House.
Clinton has lost 11 straight primaries and caucuses, and trails her Democratic rival in the number of convention delegates needed to become the presidential nominee. Obama also won a pair of big union endorsements in the past two days.
In the debate, the two senators disagreed on the proper response to a change in government in Cuba following Fidel Castro’s resignation, and sparred about health care, a core issue of the campaign.
Clinton said repeatedly that Obama’s plan would leave 15 million Americans uncovered. He, in turn, accused the former first lady of mishandling the issue by working in secrecy when her husband was in the White House.
McCain says report is “not true”
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — John McCain emphatically denied a romantic relationship with a female telecommunications lobbyist on Thursday and said a report by The New York Times suggesting favoritism for her clients is “not true.”
“I’m very disappointed in the article. It’s not true,” the likely Republican presidential nominee said as his wife, Cindy, stood beside him during a news conference called to address the matter.
“I’ve served this nation honorably for more than half a century,” said McCain, a four-term Arizona senator and former Navy pilot. “At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust.”
McCain described the woman in question, lobbyist Vicki Iseman, as a friend.
The newspaper quoted anonymous aides as saying they had urged McCain and Iseman to stay away from each other before his failed presidential campaign in 2000. In its own follow-up story, The Washington Post quoted longtime aide John Weaver, who split with McCain last year, as saying he met with lobbyist Iseman and urged her to steer clear of McCain.
Weaver told the Times he arranged the meeting before the 2000 campaign after “a discussion among the campaign leadership” about Iseman.
But McCain said he was unaware of any such conversation, and denied that his aides ever tried to talk to him about his interactions with Iseman.
Obama wins global primary
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama won the Democrats Abroad global primary in results announced Thursday, giving him 11 straight victories in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Illinois senator won the primary in which Democrats living in other countries voted by Internet, mail and in person, according to results released by the Democrats Abroad, an organization sanctioned by the national party.
More than 20,000 U.S. citizens living abroad voted in the primary, which ran from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12. Obama won about 65 percent of the vote, according to the results released Thursday.
There is no comparable primary among Republicans, though the GOP has several contests this weekend in U.S. territories, including party caucuses in Puerto Rico Sunday.
McCain loan raises FEC questions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s top campaign finance regulator says John McCain can’t drop out of the primary election’s public financing system until he answers questions about a loan he obtained to kickstart his once faltering presidential campaign.
Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason, in a letter to McCain this week, said the all-but-certain Republican nominee needs to assure the commission that he did not use the promise of public money to help secure a $4 million line of credit he obtained in November.
McCain’s lawyer, Trevor Potter, said Wednesday evening that McCain has withdrawn from the system and that the FEC can’t stop him. Potter, who was FEC chairman in 1994, said the campaign did not encumber the public funds in any way.
“Well, it was done before in another campaign. … We think it’s perfectly legal. One of our advisers is a former chairman of the FEC, and we are confident that it was an appropriate thing to do,” McCain told a news conference Thursday.
Change to Win endorses Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Change to Win labor federation gave its first presidential endorsement to Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday, saying its 6 million members could help push him over the top and into the general election as the Democratic nominee.
“We think we can make a difference,” chair Anna Burger said. “We think it’s time to bring this nomination to a close.”
The endorsement came after a teleconference between Change to Win’s leaders and the heads of the seven unions that make up the federation. The federation’s members will now head to the crucial election states of Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island for the upcoming March 4 primaries, as well as in Pennsylvania on April 22.
Change to Win has 175,000 members in Ohio, 60,000 in Texas and 25,000 in Rhode Island, Burger said. Besides leafletting, knocking on doors and advocating for Obama at workplaces, Burger said she expected more than 100,000 Change to Win voters to participate in the Ohio primary alone.
Huckabee casts himself as outsider
HOUSTON (AP) — Republican Mike Huckabee portrayed himself Thursday as a Washington outsider who would solve problems his presidential rivals, all with Washington ties, have failed to address.
“What I see is a whole bunch of the same, even the ones who say they’re going to change things,” the former Arkansas governor told a couple hundred supporters at a morning rally in Houston.
“If you believe Washington has the answers, you’ve got plenty of choices for president. If you believe they’re the ones who messed it up, then tell me and explain to me and justify to me why you would give someone who lives in Washington now, who works there, who is in the middle of the system, why you would give them the keys to make serious changes when they’ve been there and haven’t made any yet?”
Feingold ‘inclined’ to back Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold said he is “inclined” to support Barack Obama for president because of the Democratic candidate’s victory in Feingold’s state this week.
The Illinois senator won Wisconsin by a 17-percentage-point margin over Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York senator.
Feingold, a Democrat who has a large following among liberals, declined to say definitively that he would support Obama. As one of 18 Wisconsin superdelegates, Feingold is free to back any candidate at the Democratic National Convention.
Feingold said that in making a final decision, he’ll take into account whether a person is the right person for president and can win. “But the largest thought on my mind is what the people of the state indicated,” he said.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama debate in Austin, Texas.
John McCain stops in Ohio and Michigan. Mike Huckabee campaigns Texas.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“I’m very disappointed in the article. It’s not true.” — John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, in response Thursday to a report by The New York Times that questioned his relationship with a female telecommunications lobbyist.
STAT OF THE DAY:
Forty years ago, just 14 states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries. In 2008, there were 15 presidential primaries alone on Super Tuesday.
Compiled by Ann Sanner.

ap.google.com