The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay - 1076 Words

The United States has struggled with the ideal of freedom throughout history including the 21st century. Nothing is more foundational to Americans as individuals and as a nation than freedom. Freedom, known as liberty, is embedded in our history and everyday life. American freedom has been represented by statues, fleeing from slave masters, and the rights to vote. Freedom has never been a fixed concept, it has been a tenacious conflict in American history. American freedom has been debates, disagreements, and struggles rather than a evolutionary record towards a predestined goal. It has been a battle ground throughout history, found on the proposition that liberty is a right of all human race, the United States deprived many people of freedom . Freedom has been through battles of racial minorities, women, workers, and other groups to fastened the freedom they understood. There are people who struggles to obtain full on actress to freedom of expression with reasons including poverty, discrimination and cultural pressure. Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a great example of Americas freedom of identity, which focuses on the means of escape and denial. The novel lies in the freedom of identity expression , acceptance, and being set free from feeling unaccepted. Americans LGBT do not have the freedom of full equality, LGBT people have been facing many different types of discrimination. LGBT communities have limited rights, from the denial toShow MoreRelatedThe Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay And Amazing Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao2168 Words   |  9 PagesMichael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Junot Dà ­az’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wa o, the main characters were terrorized by two different dictatorships with their usage of scare tactics, surveillance abuse, and the stripping of their citizen’s basic human rights in order to oppress and terrorize the people and obtain complete power over them. In The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Amazing Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Josef Kavalier and Beli Cabral’s respectiveRead MoreSuperhero Worship By The Atlantic Virginia Postrel 1290 Words   |  6 Pagesthat instead of celebrities in general his main focus of the article is how the superhero aspect and people striving to be like superheros is what limits people in their lives. The author takes both ends of the spectrum from â€Å"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay† which shows how hard it is for the characters to balance out their superhero lives with the troubles of their everyday lives. While at the opposite end of the spectrum there is â€Å"Spider-Man† or â€Å"The Fantastic Four† which only showsRead MoreSuperhero Worship By The Atlantic Virginia Postrel 1804 Words   |  8 Pagesthat instead of celebrities, in general his main focus of the article is how the superhero aspect and people striving to be like superheros is w hat limits people in their lives. The author takes both ends of the spectrum from â€Å"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay† which shows how hard it is for the characters to balance out their superhero lives with the troubles of their everyday lives. While at the opposite end of the spectrum there is â€Å"Spider-Man† or â€Å"The Fantastic Four† which only showsRead MoreBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 PagesCamus, Albert The plague AF 3 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Carver, Raymond Cathedral in The stories of Raymond Carver AF Chabon, Michael The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay AF Clare, Monica Karobran: the story of an Aboriginal girl AF Conrad, Joseph The heart of darkness AF Cormier, Robert The chocolate war YA Cormier, Robert I am the cheese YA Courtenay, Bryce The power of one AF Dickens, Charles Oliver

Test Scores On Standardized Tests - 1017 Words

The Oxford Dictionary online defines the term â€Å"well-educated† as â€Å"having or showing a high level of education.† The opposite of â€Å"well-educated† according to Thesaurus.com includes antonyms such as â€Å"ignorant†, â€Å"unsophisticated†, â€Å"stupid†, and â€Å"uninformed†. Based on this dictionary definition, a person such as my girlfriend is well-educated since she earned two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s degree, and eventually a doctorate in Human Physiology. Does this definition imply that people who do not have advanced degrees are not well-educated? Since I have only a high school diploma and no advanced degrees, should I consider myself to be ignorant, unsophisticated, stupid, and uninformed? I will argue that being well-educated goes beyond the basic education attained during grade school and is not tied to the number of degrees earned, the prestige of the school, the number of discrete facts me morized, test scores on standardized tests, or any other measure of time spent in the classroom. Being well-educated is also not measured by standards of success in a career such as job skills, salary earnings, performance reviews, or job titles. Neither one of these standards includes the lifelong learning that occurs outside of the classroom. A more appropriate definition of being well-educated should include an ongoing desire to expand one’s knowledge and understanding of the world around us. In his article, â€Å"What does it mean to be well-educated?†, Alfie Kohn states, â€Å"It’s not enough toShow MoreRelatedLimitations Of Standardized Test Scores1644 Words   |  7 Pagesthey have taken a standardized test a great number of times in order to get the score to attend their college of choice. A standardized test is any exam that is given and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. The SAT and ACT are known as standardized aptitude tests (Popham). SAT stands for Scholastic Assessment Test and ACT stands for American College Testing. The SAT was first given in 1926 and the ACT followed in 1959. Students spend hours preparing and taking these tests only to find outRead MoreStandardized Exams And The Test Scores2070 Words   |  9 Pagesand the standardized tests. Specifically in an academic setting, one of most students’ primary goals seems to be achieving â€Å"high† numbers in grades and test scores. 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A Closer Look into the Boxer Rebellion Free Essays

string(140) " and the priests situated in various parts of China were regarded to have the same political power as the Chinese prefects and magistrates\." The Boxer Rebellion was one of the many periods of history that has almost been forgotten by Western historians despite its importance and impact in Chinese history. Eventually, information regarding this rebellion had resurfaced which some historians have considered to be mythical in the sense that some historians have concentrated the information regarding the Boxer Rebellion only on certain portions that they have deemed to be beneficial to the current society of the country. In line with this, this paper aims to provide an analytical report justifying that the Boxer Rebellion, although may have begun as a political and economical uprising, most of the efforts done during the Boxer Rebellion was to prevent Western culture and tradition from tainting Chinese culture, particularly in terms of religion. We will write a custom essay sample on A Closer Look into the Boxer Rebellion or any similar topic only for you Order Now This paper will also provide evidence to justify as to why many historians have considered the current image of the Boxer Rebellion to be a myth. In order to present the analysis report with regards to the Boxer Rebellion movement comprehensively, a brief overview of Chinese society during the period when the Boxer Rebellion arose should be first discussed. The Boxer Rebellion first gained attention in the year 1898 (Ch’en 290). During this time, China was currently under the governance of the Qing dynasty. Unlike the Ming dynasty before it, the Qing dynasty was not comprised of Manchus, foreigners from Manchuria who obtained governance on China as a result of conquest. The Manchus, as how the Chinese called them, were viewed as both privileged and idlers, with majority of the Manchus consuming one-third of the total revenue of the country (Purcell i-ii). It was also during this period a shift on the basis of the country’s economy from land acquisition to credit acquisition. In fact, Mark Elvin, author of â€Å"The Pattern of the Chinese Past† that was published in 1973 stated that usury, which was the term given to the act of controlling economic resources, became a â€Å"a more important source of social and economic power in the countryside than ownership of land† (as cited in Wakeman, Jr. 202). Apart from this, international trade and commerce that were previously banned during the Ming dynasty were re-established (Van de Van 230). Despite the shift in economic power, many members of the lower class in Chinese society still did not enjoy the independence enjoyed by the richer farmers and land owners because the practices of the moneylenders did not provide those the peasants with what they had considered to be essential to their way of life. Instead, they viewed this change in the economic power in Chinese society as a fragile and false link between the Manchu rulers and the Chinese subordinates. As such, most of the uprisings that had occurred during this period of time have been linked to peasantry revolts whose goals centered on the quest to equalize the land and resources (Wakeman Jr. 202-03). The above stated situation the China during the period of the Boxer Rebellion may have been the reason why many have associated this movement to be another peasantry revolt against the Manchu government. This was also supported by the fact that majority of the Boxers, as how they were called, were young male peasants, and that their revolt actions included stampeding into the cities and burning down blocks of the finest stores and offices of moneylenders (Liu 102). Furthermore, there have been only limited accounts on the Boxer Rebellion movement with these limited resources depicting the members of the Boxer Revolt as being hostile (Ch’en 290). While the characteristics of the Boxers were similar to that of other peasant revolts against the Manchu government, the aims and objectives of the Boxers Revolution was nothing similar. In fact, for a brief period in time, the Manchu monarchy – headed by Empress Dowager Cixi – supported the Boxers Movement (Liu 102). This is primarily due to the aims and objectives of the Boxers Movement. Because of the re-opening of international trade routes, many of the Chinese began to develop as sense of Xenophobia, which is, the fear of foreign rule. As international foreign trade blossomed, foreigners began to come in not just with raw items and other commodities, but also their own beliefs, particularly Christianity (Ch’en 290-91). Unlike the Westerners, the Chinese have patronized and supported their current government despite themselves being foreigners as well. This was because when the Chinese were brought under the rule of the Manchus, it was the Manchus and not the Chinese who assimilated themselves to the culture and society of Chinese to the point that if one would compare a Manchu and a Chinese side-by-side, only subtle differences can be viewed between them (Purcell 2). This is not the case with the Westerners who have been known to subtly invade other countries through the process of â€Å"cultural imperialism. † Cultural imperialism has been defined as the process of a foreign country to impose in a coercive manner, usually through political and economical methods, their beliefs, customs and traditions to another country, usually one that they have deemed to be more inferior than they were (Dunch 302). In the case of China, through its trade activities with European countries, has been viewed to be a country that was static, as compared to the European countries where advancements in technology was at its peak (Purcell 3). As a result, missionaries began to flock into China and began to establish schools in the Shandong province (Liu 103-04). Eventually, many of the Chinese have slowly begun to view these foreign missionaries as a threat to their cultural identity, especially after the missionaries were slowly being granted diplomatic and military support from the Qing dynasty monarchy. The Manchu monarchy increased the ranks and privileges of the foreign missionaries. One example of this was the bishop situated in the Shandong province was given the rank by the Empress Dowager Cixi similar to that of the Chinese governor of the province. On top of that, the monsignors and the priests situated in various parts of China were regarded to have the same political power as the Chinese prefects and magistrates. You read "A Closer Look into the Boxer Rebellion" in category "Papers" Because of the political power that was granted to the foreign missionaries, they were able to handle their missionary work in a more convenient manner. Not only could they not be touched by members of the local government within the area that they are ministering, but also they had the authority to protect those who have been converted into Christendom against any actions made by local authorities that they consider as harassment on the part of their converts (Liu 104). The members of the Boxers have viewed the actions of the Catholic missionaries as a way not just to make their mark in their culture, but also as a slow, but steady method of overthrowing their monarchy and their government and invading them. The Boxers viewed Christianity as a form of heresy and against the teachings of both Confucianism and Taoism, which are the prominent religions in China during this period (â€Å"History in Three Keys† 8). It was for this reason that the Boxers launched a propaganda movement against foreign missionaries. As far as the Boxers were concerned, their propaganda movement was justified by the literary pieces that were centered in both Confucianism and Taoism. Perhaps the most influential of these lyric pieces was a lyric poem which they have believed was composed by the god Chi-Kung, who shared it to the Boxers through the medium. The poem referred to the Chinese Christian converts as people â€Å"who have lost all their senses† and whose â€Å"aim was to engulf the whole country† and to â€Å"deceive our Emperor† (Ch’en 292). The propaganda literature distributed by the Boxers echoed the message of the poem of Chi-Kung. These literature included notices that they boldly advocated, such as the message that â€Å"The heresy [heresy referring to the missionaries and their converts] has no respect for either gods or Buddhas† (Ch’en 293). Based on these propaganda, it is clear that the Boxer Rebellion Movement’s aim was to wipe out foreign missionaries by any means possible in order to protect their beloved emperor and his family as well as the common people of China (Ch’en 293). Sadly, the government that they were trying to protect did not share in their vision. In the end, the Qing dynasty suppressed the Boxer movement and all forms of literature associated with the movement (â€Å"History in Three Keys† 15). There were a number of reasons as to why history presented the Boxer Rebellion more as a political revolution as opposed to a movement to protect the culture, government and people of China during the 19th century. One reason for this was that, as mentioned, all documents pertaining to the Boxer Movement, especially those that supported the Boxer Movement were destroyed. What were left were official documents and other forms of literature that were written by those who opposed the Boxer Revolution Movement. These documents depicted the Boxers as a group of illiterate individuals who were afraid of advancement and progress (â€Å"History in Three Keys† 15). But the primary reason for the difference of the viewpoint regarding the Boxer Rebellion Movement was on the historians themselves. While it is true that majority of historians document events that had occurred in a particular area during a particular period based on facts in order to provide the readers an objective viewpoint that is as accurate as the facts and evidences may allow them to, there remains some historians who have been considered by their colleagues as â€Å"mythologizers† (â€Å"The Contested Past† 82). These kinds of historians have been described as those who have a clear understanding of the past events and have access to the same evidences and facts that are available to historians, sociologists, anthropologists and the like. The difference lies in the manner on how they utilize these facts and evidences in their writings. Instead of providing the reader an objective, play-by-play account of the events that had occurred during a particular point in time, mythologizers have been known to utilize the facts and evidences to create an account of a historical event to serve another purpose. These purposes include political reform and psychological formation of the reader (â€Å"The Contested Past 82-83). Examples of this can be found with regards to the manner on how various authors whose works have long been considered as historical accounts on the Boxer Revolution. In one account which was entitled â€Å"The Boxers’ Conquest of the Westerners,† the Boxers were described as a group of individuals who were superstitious and irrational. In fact, not much attention was actually given to this over the more noble reason for the revolt, which was the protection and preservation of Chinese culture from the changes being imposed by foreign missionaries. As a result, this historical account presented the Chinese as a people who, in a period when everyone else were trying to advance themselves, remained superstitious by believing that gods and deities still correspond through mediums in order for the people to do their bidding as well as a country whose people remained ignorant and even barbaric (â€Å"The Contested Past† 84). Chen’s Duxiu’s essay is another example of mythologization of the Boxer Revolution. In his essay, he firmly addressed and justified that the Boxer Revolution was brought about by the influence of Confucianism, Taoism and other religions present in China during that period of time has led to the Boxer Uprising. Duxiu further stated that since these religions are still prevalent in China to this very day, it would not be long before another Boxer Revolution will take place (â€Å"The Contested Past† 85). While this does have some truth in it, it is also not entirely accurate because Duxiu failed to take into consideration that one of the main reasons why the Boxer Revolution erupted was because of the imminent overthrow of the current monarchy ruling China brought about by the government itself by providing political power to a certain extent to the foreign missionaries. This allowed them to be in a position to choose on whether they would follow the rulings of the local government where they were ministering. In fact, the term â€Å"Boxer† Revolution by itself may be considered to be a form of mythologization. In his article, Lu Xun had presented it as a metaphor to present the ignorance of the Chinese during the 19th century in his statement â€Å"[†¦] if the Chinese don’t learn the military art of using rattan shields, how can they protect themselves against firearms[†¦]† (as cited in â€Å"The Contested Past† 86). To summarize, the Boxer Revolution that occurred during the Qing dynasty was brought about by a number of historical events. The first was the experience of the Chinese towards foreign invasion. Although they were currently being ruled by foreigners from Manchuria, they did not fear that this would bring about a loss of their cultural identity and heritage. This was because the foreign rulers assimilated themselves into the Chinese culture and traditions to a point wherein Manchus living in China were not that different from the Chinese. The second historical event was the re-opening of international trade routes by the Manchus during the Qing dynasty that have been closed during the Ming dynasty. While this benefited the country economically with traders bringing in rare commodities in exchange for Chinese goods, it had also paved the way for European missionaries to enter the country, bringing in Christianity into China. This event has caused many of the converts to turn their backs from local customs and traditions, hence, their own cultural identity. The third was the decision made by the Manchu government through Empress Dowager Cixi to grant the foreign missionaries some form of political power. This proved to be the biggest threat viewed by the Boxer Revolt. The decision made by the Empress Dowager has not only provided the foreign missionaries some form of leniency which would allow them to practice their faith and to convert Chinese into Christianity more freely, but it also allowed the foreign missionaries not to adhere with the local government in the various provinces where they were ministering. This is because the political power granted by the Empress to the foreign missionaries has caused them to have the same political powers as those in the local government, if not higher. Based on the evidence presented, the preconceived notion that the Boxers were predominantly made out of peasants is inaccurate. On the contrary, the evidence have suggested that the Boxer Revolution was actually a movement that was composed largely of educated individuals and since education was a privilege that was enjoyed by the elite during this period of time, it can be assumed that the Boxer Revolution was a revolution created by the elite. This conclusion has been based on the development of the aim of the Boxer Revolution which was to wipe out the foreign missionaries in order to preserve and protect the Emperor of China and its people. They had based this on literary pieces that were usually accessible only to the elite. Among these forms of literature were the plays, poetry and teachings of Confucius and Tao. It will be highly illogical to state that the Boxers were mainly comprised of illiterate individuals since the only way for these to become the basis of the Boxers Movement is if and only if these someone who is literate, that is someone who could both read and write, would be able to not only understand these forms of literature but would have the capacity to disseminate these information to others. Also, the preconception that the Boxer Revolution was a revolt against the Manchu government has been disproved by the information presented in this paper as well. While it may be true that the Boxer Revolution was ultimately suppressed by the Manchu government, among the objectives of the revolution movement was to protect their Emperor and Empress Dowager. They had viewed the actions of the foreign missionaries as a step closer for cultural imperialism to become rampant in the country. Cultural imperialism refers to the act of members from a foreign country to bring in their own customs, beliefs and traditions into another country and would slowly assimilate this to the citizens of that particular country, usually through some form of political force. The most common method used for cultural imperialism is through religion. This was the case in the Boxer movement. How to cite A Closer Look into the Boxer Rebellion, Papers

Australian Taxation Law

Question: Identify and evaluate key arguments both for and against retaining these tax concessions if housing affordability is to be achieved. In your response you must explain what is meant by negative gearing and how capital gains arising from property investment are treated. You should refer to sections of legislation, tax rulings and cases where relevant. Answer: Introduction Housing affordability is a term that is used to describe the relationship between household income and household expenditure of an individual related to the costs of housing. Housing affordability is related to the acceptable proportion of income of an individual that must be spent for housing purposes. In other words, the concept relates t the capability of an individual to survive sufficiently after incurring expenses for housing purposes. In the present situation, housing expenses of Australian citizens have increased to a great extent. According to a report published by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute titled Housing Affordability: A 21st Century Problem, around 15% of all households in Australia pay almost 30% of their income for their housing costs. This surge in the prices of housing and rental properties in Australia has affected the middle and lower income groups to a great extent (Action for Housing Affordability, 2016). This gave birth to the concept of Negative Gearing that was introduced as a tax measure by the Government to set off the ill effects of the soaring prices of the real estate. Negative gearing is a practice where an individual borrows money to invest in income producing investment property in expectation that the income generated from the property will be more that the costs of acquiring and maintaining the property. However, in reality this does not happen and the costs exceed the income resulting in a loss. According to the provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, expenses and losses incurred while producing income from an investment decisions are subject to deductions from the assessable income of such individual. In the present scenario, people are intentionally resorting to more and more to negative gearing in order to reduce their overall tax liability. This has resulted in much speculative activities in the real estate market and reduced house ownership further as the prices of properties have failed to reduce ("ACOSS address the impact of negative gearing and Capital Gains Tax on housing affordability | ShelterWA", 2016). The secondary mortgage market also has been affected by such type of speculative transactions. This essay is directed towards evaluating these points and brings out the points related to the nexus among housing prices, negative gearing and capital gains tax regime. Is there a housing crisis in Australia? This has been the main topic of discussion in Australia over the past few years. Housing costs and overall housing expenditure on the housing sector is much more when compared to the other developed countries of the world. Housing costs have increases to a great extent during the years. One of the reasons for such increase is the growth in the urban population. Demand has increased over the years; however, on the other hand, supply is limited and has been restricted by the government in various occasions. Another important and influencing factor is the nature and extent of the demand (Choice, 2016). People have a fascination about the size of homes and rental properties. They often choose large chunks of land to build their home on. Increasing interest rates is also considered to be contributing factor to this current situation as it leaves its impact on the mortgage debt and the mortgage debt market. Residential and commercial backed securities have lost their value in the market as there is a rising trend in default in repaying mortgages by the borrowers who are more concerned about obtaining tax concessions and deductions from the tax authorities ("Expenses deductible immediately - management and maintenance including interest | Australian Taxation Office", 2016). With a rise in housing prices, more and more people are losing their ability to afford a shelter over their heads, especially the lower and the middle income group. Factors Influencing Housing Affordability The housing sector is one of the primary concerns of any government. Since the prices have posed much concern in the country, the government took a few steps to control the market prices. However, these steps did not prove effective to bring a proper solution to the problem. Property price has increased are constantly being overvalued making it difficult to access for most of the population who do not own their house. The situation is so grave that the country is in a brink of having a mortgage crisis. Low and restricted supply of land and property have fuel the crisis. Such a rise in the property prices will tend the market to destabilize. This will create a difference between the level of income and property prices. In such a situation, the primary objective of the government is to make housing affordable ("Borrowing to invest and negative gearing - pros, cons, and how it works", 2016). The government proposed various tax reforms in order to control the situation. Since 200, the de mand of real estate has increased to a great extent and this has allowed sellers and builders to raise the price levels. This has resulted in much concern and now people are required to sacrifice more of their financial resources in order to own or rent a property. First time home owners are the worst affected groups as they are go to great lengths to accumulate finance for their first homes. On the other hand, tax concessions and deductions are available only to people who are interested in acquiring investment properties that will tend to generate assessable income for them. Some of the other contributing factors stipulated by the experts are inflation, the prevailing tax structure and easy access to credit for investment purposes. Negative Gearing and Capital Gains Tax Negative gearing involves and borrower to borrow money for investing in investment properties that tend to fetch future income for such borrower. The quantum of future income is of great important in negative gearing. The borrower invests in such properties where the future assessable income from such investment property is less than the costs of acquisition and maintaining the property. This results in incurring in a loss in the transaction. This loss is then allowed by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), to be set off against other assessable income of the borrower. The main intention of the tax authorities is to provide a buffer to the borrower and provide them with a tax relief so that they are able to cut down their losses (Choice, 2016). The overall tax effect is to set off the net rental loss arising out of the transaction with the other sources of assessable income source of the borrower so that there is a decrease in the overall tax burden of the borrower. This deduction i s provided as an incentive to the borrower according to the provisions of the ITAA 1997. If in any income year, the assessable income of an assessee is not sufficient to set off the loss, it is carried forward and adjusted with the income earned by the assessee in the next year ("Expenses you can claim | Australian Taxation Office", 2016). On the other hand, the ATO and the ITAA 1997 have rules and provisions for Capital Gains Tax related to investment properties. Tax concessions are provided to assesses in case of investment housing. When a property is held for 12 months or more and then sold, the capital gains arising out of such transactions are subject to 50% tax deductions. Negative gearing and capital gains tax regime combined together form a complete code of deductions that are provided by the government and the taxation authorities so that assesses are able to cut down their losses and decrease their overall tax burden ("Rental properties - avoiding common mistakes | Austral ian Taxation Office", 2016). The facilities of negative gearing and capital gains tax have a two-fold advantage that an individual is able to avail. First one being the ability to deduct the loss from rental property and the second is that of the 50% discount that can be availed in respect of capital gains tax. In negative gearing, the borrower is allowed to set off their loss every year against their assessable income. Therefore, the loss from investment property that is incurred during a year is allowed to be deducted during that year itself. Therefore, the assessee is able to take advantage of the negative gearing facility each year and lower his or her tax burden ("Fuel on Fire: Negative Gearing, Capital Gains and Housing Affordability", 2016). The second advantage here is that when such investment property is disposed off, deductions can be claimed from capital gains tax when such investment property is disposed off. The tax applicable in case of capital gains is much less than the normal income tax rates a pplicable to individuals. Therefore, it can be seen that an assessee is able to claim much deductions and concessions in case of negative gearing and capital gains tax. This is the main intention of the tax authorities so that individuals are able to lower their tax burden (Planners, 2016). The provisions of the ITAA 1997 and that of 1936 intend to provide an effective and efficient tax structure for the people of Australia. The legislative provisions provide a complete structure so that tax planning can be done effectively and people are able to plan about their tax burdens. Division 8 of the ITAA stipulates the deductions that can be availed by tax payers in order to lower their tax burdens ("INCOME TAX ASSESSMENT ACT 1997", 2016). This provides an ease to the tax payers and makes tax levy and collection easy with an intention to make it fair and transparent. The structure is so formulated that people are able to properly plan about their tax payments and the system makes sure tha t they collect what is owed to them ("Hot property: negative gearing and capital gains tax | Grattan Institute", 2016). The present story is somewhat different. The tax incentives provided by the ATO and the government are used in the wrong sense. In reality, the loss incurred in negative gearing gets set off against the tax incentive provided. People are resorting to more borrowing for taking advantage of the negative gearing arrangement. They are investing in property that does not fetch much income so that the costs can be covered (Milligan, 2007). This act is done intentionally so that they are able to get the tax incentive. Set offs are availed yearly until the property is disposed off. On the other hand, capital gains tax deduction can be availed when the property is sold. People are availing both these incentives in a wrong way that itself defies the intention of the tax authorities and the government. Easy access to finance for investment purposes has fuelled this phenomenon. People are availing more and more finance from banks and financial institutions in order to buy investment properties a nd taking advantage of negative gearing ("Rental properties 2013-14 | Australian Taxation Office", 2016). Often it is seen that same individual is buying two or three properties in order to lower their tax burdens. This matter is of serious concern as it has increased speculative activities in the housing sector and the real estate market. People are resorting to hedging actively that affects the secondary mortgage market and influences securitisation. The worst affected group is the first home owners who are still unable to provide a roof above their heads dur to the rising prices of housing and rental properties (News Sydney's housing affordability crisis for low income earners is spreading, 2016). Conclusion Property prices are soaring in Australia due to acute shortage of supply. This has allowed builders and seller to maintain a high price for their properties. In such a situation there is disparity between the level of income growth and the market price of houses and rental properties. In order to have a control of the situation, the government introduced several tax reforms in the form of negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions. The main intention of the tax authorities was to lower the overall tax burden of tax payers who have a just and fair cause. However, these tax incentives are being used in an unethical manner by the tax payers. People are engaging in speculative activities and intentionally investing in properties that are not able to provide adequate returns to cover the costs associated with the properties. People are borrowing more and more to invest in investment properties ("The positives of negative gearing", 2016). As a result, loans and debts are being rest ructured randomly by the banks and financial institutions. In order to have a full control of this situation, either tax incentives have to be discontinued or capital gains tax should be imposed on a yearly basis. People are getting resorting to investment in real estate through Super Funds where capital gains tax is not applicable to gains arising out of the sale of investment properties. Therefore, a difference is being created between disposable income and property prices. High prices are preventing common people from owing a house for residential purposes. In the given case scenario, Jai intends to sell his residential house property and buy another residential property and an investment property. He intends to take maximum advantage of the negative gearing process and the tax incentives that are available for capital gains made by him in the process of these transactions ("What to include in your assessable income | Australian Taxation Office", 2016). Therefore, there are two transactions that will attract tax legislations and accounting of the overall tax burden of Jai. We will be discussing theme respectively. Selling of the Residential Property A capital gains tax event occurs when a depreciating asset is sold or disposed off. Capital gains tax is not a separate tax but forms a part of the income tax of an individual. Capital gains tax is applicable to CGT assets when they are sold. A gain arises when a CGT asset is sold and the sale proceeds exceed the cost of the asset. House of Jai is considered to be a capital asset and the gains made while selling the property will be subjected to capital gains tax (Works, 2016). However, the ATO provides a few exemptions to the tax. One of which is the principal place of residence. When a residential house is sold or disposed off where the tax payer resides, it is exempted from the ambit of capital gains tax. Therefore, selling of the residential property by Jai will not attract any tax liability. Plan to Buy New Properties Jai wants to buy two properties. He has $200000 in hand and wants to borrow $150000 from his existing bank. The primary concern is the manner in which these monies are to be invested. The interest to be charged by the bank for $150000 is 5% pa. He has the following options in front of him. The first option involves utilising the cash in hand ($200000) for buying a residential property and the loan amount ($150000) for buying the investment property. In such a situation, he has to pay an yearly interest of $7500 and in order to avail the benefits of negative gearing he has to maximise his costs and such costs have to be less than the rental income that can be earned from the property. Therefore, this $7500 is the maximum costs that can be incurred by him. In the second option, the investment property will be bought with the cash and the remaining cash and loan amount will be used for buying the residential property. This will not give him much advantage as negative gearing is available only for investment properties that are bought with borrowed money. In this situation, the loan amount will be utilised for buying residential property. In this situation, the residential property is to be bought by utilising $100000 cash and $100000 loan amount. Therefore, only $50,000 will be used to buy the investment property. Therefore, in this situation, Jai will not be able to maximise his expenses with respect to the investment property. Thus, it can be inferred that he will be able to utilise the advantages of negative gearing by opting for the first option. References 2015, H. assisted, T. (2016).Action for Housing Affordability.Tenantsunion.org.au. Borrowing to invest and negative gearing - pros, cons, and how it works. (2016).Taxpayer.com.au. 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