Latest news with #TheConversation
Metropolis Japan
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Metropolis Japan
Megalopolis
By Don Morton He did it his way A lot of self-appointed cinema experts have commented on what a financial flop this movie is, noting that Francis Ford Coppola spent $100 million of his own money on it and is unlikely to ever see a profit. But what they don't know is that Coppola is admired, not for making moneymakers, but for making the films he wants to make. He made movies like The Godfathe r (I&II) and Apocalypse Now so he could fund The Conversation, One From the Heart and Rumble Fish. Francis has never shied away from risk, and maybe today's film industry needs more of that. So, what's it about? Reader, I have no friggin' idea. The production notes call it 'An epic Roman fable set in an imagined modern America.' Here's some of the critical buzz: 'Dazzling and audacious, uncompromising, satirical yet sincere, magical, meandering and maddening, windy, overstuffed, baffling, too talky, an idea-bloated monstrosity, a garish wonder to behold, a nakedly personal statement.' See what I mean? The massive, often baffled but uniformly committed cast includes Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, and dozens more. The whole thing eventually buckles under its own weight, but it's a thrilling demolition to behold. In sum, it's precisely the movie Coppola wanted to make. Whether it's a movie you want to watch depends on who you are, and I can't help you there. It's one of those you have to see to believe. Then we'll talk. (138 min)
Perth Now
a day ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Treasurer's huge call on tax changes
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has announced his ambition for economic and tax reform, and while he remains tight lipped about what's on the table, he has ruled out two key changes. Speaking to the National Press Club on Wednesday, the Treasurer announced the government will hold a productivity roundtable from August 19 to 21 for the purpose of seeking ideas for reform from business, unions, civil society and experts. The gathering will be capped at 25 people and held in Parliament House's Cabinet room. 'Obviously there are some things that governments, sensible, middle of the road, centrist governments like ours don't consider,' Mr Chalmers told The Conversation's Michelle Grattan. 'We don't consider inheritance taxes, we don't consider changing the arrangements for the family home, those sorts of things.' Mr Chalmers said he believes limiting the narrative to 'ruling things in or ruling things out' has a 'corrosive impact' on policy debate, but conceded to ruling out the historically controversial taxes. Mr Chalmers has historically opposed a rise in GST. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: NewsWire Inheritance tax is a tax you pay on assets inherited when you are the beneficiary of a will. While inheritance taxes used to be common in most states, by 1981 all Australian states had abolished them. The GST was another key tax eyed for the roundtable. Mr Chalmers has historically opposed lifting the GST but is facing increasing pressure from the states to do just that. The GST has remained at 10 per cent for 23 years. 'You know that historically I've had a view about the GST,' Mr Chalmers told the Press Club. 'I think it's hard to adequately compensate people. I think often an increase in the GST is spent 3 or 4 times over by the time people are finished with all of the things that they want to do with it.' Mr Chalmers said he hadn't changed his view on GST and he won't walk away from it but stressed he's open to hearing ideas on the issue at the roundtable. 'I've, for a decade or more, had a view about the GST,' he told The Conversation. 'I repeated that view at the Press Club because I thought that was the honest thing to do, but what I'm going to genuinely try and do, whether it's in this policy area or in other policy areas, is to not limit what people might bring to the table.' Mr Chalmers has ruled out changes to tax on inheritance and the family home in a wide ranging interview. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: NewsWire Two years ago, Mr Chalmers warned that raising the GST would likely not fix federal budget issues since even though the tax was collected by the federal government before it was distributed back to the states. 'From my point of view, there are distributional issues with the GST in particular. Every cent goes to the state and territory governments, so it wouldn't be an opportunity necessarily, at least not directly, to repair the Commonwealth budget,' he said. One thing that will remain in play though is the government's pledged superannuation changes, that would increase tax on investment returns, including interest, dividends or capital gains, on balances above $3 million. 'What we're looking for here is not an opportunity at the roundtable to cancel policies that we've got a mandate for; we're looking for the next round of ideas,' he said. 'I suspect people will come either to the roundtable itself or to the big discussion that surrounds it with very strong views, and not unanimous views about superannuation. 'But our priority is to pass the changes that we announced, really some time ago, that we've taken to an election now, and that's how we intend to proceed.' Mr Chalmers said the idea of extending the capital gains tax on superannuation balances to other areas had not been considered 'even for a second'.
Mint
2 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Would you cheat on your tax? It's a risky move, tax office knows a lot about you
Sydney, Jun 19 (The Conversation) Soon, more than 15 million Australians should be lodging a tax return with the Australian Taxation Office in the hope of receiving at least a small refund. About 60 per cent of taxpayers use an accountant to prepare their tax return while the other 40 per cent lodge their returns via their MyGov account. This links them to the tax office, Medicare and other government services. The tax office receives about 1000 tip-offs a week from people who know or suspect evasion. Of these, the office deems about 90 per cent warrant further investigation. What to remember when preparing your tax return These days, the tax office prefills much of your income information. The ATO will let you know through your MyGov account when your income statements from your employer are 'tax ready'. But other income including bank interest, dividends and managed investment funds distributions may take longer to appear, so don't rush to complete and lodge your tax return on July 1 if these aren't there. When these items prefill, check them for accuracy and correct any errors. The tax office does not know about all your income so remember to provide details of other sources including capital gains on investments and income from other jobs for which you have an Australian Business Number. Some items, such as private health insurance information, are only partially pre-filled so be sure to check that all questions have been answered and all necessary information provided. To claim a deduction you must have spent the money yourself and were not reimbursed from another source. The expense must be directly related to earning your income from either employment or services provided, from investments such as shares or a rental property, or from a business you operate. And you must have a record to prove your expense. This usually needs to be in the form of a receipt or a diary. If you don't know how to record your deductions, an easy option is to use the tax office myDeductions app. You can scan receipts and allocate them to the correct section of your return. What the tax office will be looking for in 2025 Each year the tax office targets particular areas. For 2025, these are: Working from home expenses: you can choose between two methods: the fixed rate method or the actual cost method. The fixed rate method allows you to claim 70 cents for each hour worked from home during the year. You do not need to keep receipts, but you must keep a record of the hours worked at home. The actual cost method allows you to claim the costs of working from home, but taxpayers must have a dedicated room set aside for the office and remove all private use. You cannot claim personal items like interest on a home loan or rent expenses unless you are operating a business from home. Personal items, such as coffee machines, are not claimable even if you use them while working from home. Mobile phone and internet costs are included in the 70 cents per hour fixed rate. The ATO will be looking for taxpayers who claim these twice – for example, on their return and from their employer. The 70 cents per hour rate does not include depreciation of work-related technology and office furniture, cleaning of the home office and repairs to these items. So these amounts can be claimed separately. Motor vehicle expenses: there are also two methods to work out this claim. The log book method requires you to have kept a record for 12 weeks. You then need to work out the percentage you used your car for work or business which is applied to your expenses. The cents per kilometre method allows you to claim 88 cents for each kilometre up to 5,000 km of work or business travel. No receipts need to be kept for this method, but you must be able to justify the total kilometres that you have claimed. If you use the cents per kilometre method, do not double dip by claiming additional motor vehicle expenses. Rental properties: make sure the expenses you claim do not include your personal costs. For example, the interest expenses must only be for the rental property and not interest from your personal home. Also, if you own 50 per cent of the rental you can only claim 50 per cent of the expenses, even if your taxable income is higher than the other owner. If you have a holiday home you can only claim expenses for when that home was rented out, not the whole year. Cryptocurrency: many taxpayers are buying and selling cryptocurrency. These transactions need to be reported in your tax return when they are sold as a capital gain or capital loss. Other forms of income: if you earn money through the sharing or gig economies, you must include all income from these activities in your return. If you sell goods online, the tax office may consider it to be a business, and it will expect the income to be declared. Don't be tempted to cheat The ATO already knows a lot about your tax situation, which makes it harder than ever to cheat. The tax office uses data matching to check information you include in your return against data provided by other parties including share registries and your health insurer. It also gathers information from the internet. If the data doesn't match your return, or your claim is considered excessive, the ATO may contact you. You may be asked to explain why and, if your explanation is unsatisfactory, you might be audited. Penalties of 25 per cent to 75 per cent of the tax owed may apply for falsely claiming deductions. The more dishonest the claim, the higher the penalty). The link between what you claim and what you earn has to be real. So do not claim the cost of your Armani suit as a work uniform or your pet as a mascot for your business. Even the cost of a massage chair to relieve work stress cannot be claimed. Dubious claims received by the tax office in recent years are many and varied. They have included Lego, school uniforms and sporting equipment purchased for kids, USD 9000 worth of wine bought by a wine expert while on a European holiday, for personal consumption, and a claim using receipts lodged by a doctor for an overseas conference he didn't attend. What if I make a mistake or the ATO finds an error? If you make a mistake in your tax return, you can always amend it via MyTax. The tax office will not fine you unless you did not take reasonable care, but you will have to pay back the shortfall in tax. The due date to lodge your own return is October 31. If you are having trouble meeting this date, contact the tax office and ask for an extension. (The Conversation) PY PY
Scroll.in
2 days ago
- Business
- Scroll.in
Joaquin Vespignani, The Conversation
Stories written by India, neighbours could face oil price rise, supply disruptions as Israel targets Iranian facilities The attacks on Iran's oil fields and the likelihood of further escalation, is a renewed threat to global energy stability. Joaquin Vespignani, The Conversation · 3 minutes ago
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Politico Bets on New Podcast Push to Take on TV's Sunday News Cycle
Look out, 'Meet the Press.' Make way, 'Face the Nation.' Politico wants to enter the Sunday-news pow-wow. The political-news outlet recently launched a new podcast with former NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns, and would like the show, 'The Conversation,' to vie with the nation's Sunday programs in more direct manner. Thanks to video distribution via YouTube, says Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami, executives believe they have a shot. More from Variety Comedian Zarna Garg Launches Podcast on Heels of 'One in a Billion' Amazon Special True Crime is Most Popular Podcast Genre: Pew Research Study APA Names Nick Panella Head of New Podcast and Audio Group (EXCLUSIVE) 'Our ambitions are not small,' she tells Variety during a recent interview. 'We do think we can, and we should, compete with other big players in this area. And I do think that having YouTube as a platform really does allow you to compete directly with the broadcasters in this day and age.' Politico's hopes for Burns' Sunday program are bolstered by the fact that Jonathan Greenberger, the former ABC News Washington Bureau chief and executive producer of 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos,' is an executive vice president for the Axel Springer-owned news unit. 'The Conversation' is just one of a handful of new podcasts that Politico is in the process of launching — and in which it is ramping up investment. The company has hired two new executives to build out its audio and video content. Ben Reininga, formerly the global head of news at Snapchat, has been named vice president of audio and video, while Haley Thomas, formerly senior producer of CNN's audio division, has been named head of content of audio and video. Reininga will report to Greenberger, while Thomas will report to Reininga. Separately, the NBC News executive who had been tasked with oversight of 'Meet the Press,' Carrie Budoff Brown, has returned to Politico, where she once served as editor in chief. In a different era, the Sunday talk shows were viewed as a stand-alone part of the national news cycle. The last efforts to penetrate their ranks came in 2009, when CNN launched 'State of the Union,' and 1996, when Fox News Channel debuted 'Fox News Sunday.' Today's media consumers, however, are more likely to watch video podcasts or tee up short-form audio programs — and don't consider such products inferior to those produced by mainstream TV. Approximately 58% of Americans say they prefer to get news on a digital device, according to a 2024 survey conducted by Pew Research — higher than the 32% who said they preferred TV. Politico has other podcasts and videocasts at the ready. The company recently launched 'The Playbook Podcast with Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns.' Soon to come: 'Corridors with Rachael Bade,' built around the reporting of its Capitol Bureau Chief. The company's new audio executives will have a hand in determining future products, says Sheikholeslami. While podcasts have historically appealed to a younger audience, Sheikholeslami, herself a former CEO of New York Public Radio, believes the format is crucial if Politico is to draw additional engagement form its current aficionados. 'Great journalism has to have a sort of multifaceted distribution strategy,' she says, adding: 'We know that people have very busy lives, and sometimes they don't have time to read all the great stuff that we publish every day. But they do have 20 minutes or 15 minutes to listen to a podcast.' And they may appreciate a break with some of the conventions of the format. The traditional coterie of Sunday programs 'sort of assume that viewers haven't spent their entire week immersed in the news,' she says. Politico's take on the format offers longer conversations that don't have to be broken up in the same way the predecessor shows are. 'You can get to a depth that is hard to do when you are limited by a shorter amount of time.' If Politico's efforts bear fruit, the outlet's current core readership of policymakers and lawmakers will spend more time with its content, no matter how it's consumed., says Sheikholeslami. 'It's not necessarily about expanding to a new audience. I think it's much more about how can we be more useful to the audience that already engages with us very deeply?' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
