[QUOTE]If the Australian government thinks for one minute they will see one cent of my retirement money think again. I will retire else where, where governments reward people who have worked hard to provide for themselves in retirement, not tax them to death and let those on the old age pensioner bludge off the rest of society because they did’t plan for retirement. My wife and I will keep our house on the beach in Sydney and continue to live as expats abroad, only coming down for less than six months of the year to maintain our non-residency status. If the government change the rules then I will adapt. Push me into a corner and I will sell everything in Australia and take it all abroad. So my advice to the Australian government is you have been warned. There are many expats like me who will drop Australia like a hot potato if you back us into a corner. Then you won’t see anything, not even GST revenue. [/QUOTE
Agree entirely, Oz is a nice place but the demands of the ATO for living there are just not worth it. South Island NZ looking better all the time, < six months there and six months in Asia, with a couple of short visits to Oz each year, sounds great. Where I am at the moment I can save without being taxed left right and centre. On +AU$100 000/ year I'm paying 8% income tax and get good value for it. If Canberra stopped squandering money on welfare, foreign aid and a ridiculously large bureaucracy they could tax in a similar manner and attract some talent back home, that may not have left in the first place.