Small Businessman Enjoys Brief Window Of Joy Between Taking Hard-Earned Dividend And Learning He Forgot To Update The CCS Estimate

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

A local construction material supplier magnate who has spent the past twelve months quietly cleaning up on the region's housing boom is currently enjoying the period between thinking he's done well and kicked a few goals and being violently mugged by Big Government.

Peter Declan, of Declan & Sons Material Company, who runs his operation through a neat little company structure that Jim and Albo are trying to get their grubby little career public servant mitts on, decided to reward himself with a $50,000 fully franked dividend before the end of financial year. A move his accountant described as "tax-effective" and his wife later described as "why she votes for David Littleproud".

That's because the dividend, once grossed up for the franking credits, added roughly $71,000 to the family's adjusted taxable income, dragging their combined figure from a comfortable $280,000 to a shameful $351,000.

His partner Romany, a hospital administrator with Queensland Health, was first to notice the damage when their Child Care Subsidy (CCS) quietly recalculated itself. Their three-year-old's rate dropped from 51 per cent to 36 and their one-year-old, once cushioned by the higher rate for second children, slid from 75 to just 52.

All up, the family's annual childcare bill for the pair will jump by close to $14,000, swallowing nearly half the after-tax dividend before he'd spent a cent of it.

Mr Declan has just been informed by his accountant that the government will be taking even more of his dividend.

"Isn't that a load of shit," Mr Declan told The Advocate.

"It's just not worth it, is it? We can't just dump the kids on their grandparents, either. Not fair doing that, either. You know, you reward yourself for working 90 hours a week. You pay a bonus to your staff. A good one, too. Most people got 4 weeks. And I get fed this hot cock by my accountant. You need to pell off $14,000 and give it to Jim, who's gonna spend it on NDIS handjobs and nuclear submarines. What is the point,"

"Maybe I should just sell this business my family built, get CGT'd out the arse and go become a little PAYG teet sucker like this government wants me to be. Low stress, low risk, sit down to piss type stuff."

More to come.