Taxes and Bananas

I just prepared my taxes last week. The technological landscape of Oz does not know Macs, thus, I couldn't use any of my home computers to do my taxes. I borrowed a PC laptop from work. I am a zealous citizen, too, because besides this effort, I also made the actual effort of paying on time, which very few of my friends/acquaintances here do. I confess I was hoping for a rebate, because besides the medical spending I had this year, I also made a few substantial donations. Bad luck! This will not happen and moreover, I owe the tax office a good amount. This is why. A few cyclones hit Australia last year and the government, which already takes substantial taxes from its citizens, decided to instate a flood levy. This is a one year tax (2011-2012) that is 0.5% of the income between $50K and $100K or $250 plus 1% of the difference between $100K and the taxable income. Needless to say that if a government is not prepared to absorb flood damages in a country that does have them every 10-15 years, is a bad sign. Meanwhile, right after cyclone Yasi I paid $8 for a pound of bananas because the banana plantations were directly hit by the cyclones. I hope with all the insurance coverage, money from the flood levy and the profit they made from the golden price of bananas, at least the farmers in Queensland will sell their bananas at a reasonable price this year… In this spirit, today's picture is that of a flooded road in the Northern Territory. I took the picture from the car window, while crossing the flooded road. Because such floods are rare, there are no bridges, and the road gets occasionally flooded, although I secretly wish my flood levy contribution would go towards raising some roads in these areas, as at times, we were afraid of getting stuck in the middle of the water.