by Sergeant Hartman » 18 Nov 2018, 10:53 pm
Well sorry guys, childcare you don't paint the full picture. Yes it's expensive, and if you live inner city its highway robbery, but the are centers that are reasonable quality of care and costs in outer middle suburbs (I have 3 kids which went childcare, so I suppose I have first hand experience). Also you get truck load of subsidies, in our time there were two different payments, now it's one, but still works out upto 80% of the fees are subsidized depending on income. Eg a family of two kids where the family earns 100k a year, and taking the 70 bucks per day per kid example from GDB, let's assume both kids goto childcare for 5 days a week. Even though the cost are $700 per week the family will only have to pay $208 out of pocket.
There are plenty of costs that are high, but depends on what the personal income is. What I see as killer is rent, tolls, petrol taxes, parking costs, and ofcourse alcohol and cigarettes for those who partake in those activities. Then add indirect taxes, like council fees, fines esp road fines. And OH&S costs.
These are more under control of the government but they are addicted to the revenue.