Getting tough on debts !

The New South Wales Office of State Revenue  ( OSR ) has 129,000 interstate drivers on it's books owing over $ 30 million for unpaid parking and traffic fines.  Fines that remain unpaid after sixty days will now be put in the hands of debt collection agencies - and there are plans to withdraw the right to drive in this state which usually applies to all who hold a valid driving license in their home state.

This opens an interesting can of worms in the legal world.  It will be necessary to serve a notice of license cancellation to the address of the interstate license holder and warn of the legal consequences of driving unlicensed in this state.  Driving unlicensed involves cancelling most forms of insurance cover, hence those who have an accident could well find themselves with crippling debts as a consequence.  Some of these debts go back years and the only information available to OSR is the data recorded at the time the offence was committed.

In tough times, all government agencies are looking to tap revenue sources to help their bottom line.  Treasurer Joe Hockey created a storm when he mused that the Feds might use more muscle in reigning in unpaid HECS debts by graduates who move overseas to work - and escape the reach of the Australian tax office.    HECS was introduced in 1989 to allow students to attend university and defer paying tuition fees until they graduated - and attained an income level at which repayments would commence.   Unpaid HECS amount to $ 450 million - and it continues to rise sharply.

It was inferred that debt recovery could take the form of legal action in overseas courts or the negotiation of tax agreements with foreign governments to reclaim monies owing - and pursuing such debts on the estate of a deceased debtor was not entirely dismissed.   It was later advised that this course of action was not under consideration.

We seem to have a strange divergence of responsibility when it comes to debt.   We accept that we have both a moral and a legal obligation to promptly repay installments on items such as a home mortgage or a bank loan, but when it comes to debts to what is some form of  " the Government " our attitude changes completely.

We are a nation of " tax dodgers " and this carries over to any form of government charge - and many attending university think that all forms of education should be free.  It doesn't seem to bother them that the reason they chose to go to university was to gain a piece of paper that would be useful in getting a better than average income - and the elevated lifestyle that goes with wealth.

Somewhere in the logic - the term " them " comes to mean a remote entity that is rolling in money and who we resent for imposing conditions that should apply to others - but not to ourselves.    We find it hard to relate this mythical " them " to what it really means - and that is " us " !

Collectively, we are all responsible for the debts that are made in the name of the government of Australia.  Every Australian child born in this country - and automatically becoming an Australian citizen -  becomes liable for the national debt the moment he or she takes their first breath.    There is no citizen of this country that can claim to be entirely " debt free ".

It is a sad fact of life that when one citizen manages to avoid paying what they owe, that same amount is added to the load that must be shared by the rest of the community.  In tough times, the collection net closes inevitably tighter !