The Australian Taxation Office denied debt relief to a taxpayer despite acknowledging the person was in serious financial hardship and at immediate risk of homelessness, according to details released by the tax ombudsman. The person, whose name was not disclosed, is one of many caught by the ATO’s widely criticised “robotax” scheme that has resurrected…
A 16-year-old Melbourne boy was able to gamble nearly $100,000, including at suburban pubs, despite his mother desperately seeking help, a court has heard. The Melbourne magistrates court heard that when his mother discovered his gambling habits, she began a frantic mission to get him help, only to be repeatedly turned away. In April last…
Loading Let me explain how that average person would have ended up there. HELP is an income-contingent loan, which means graduates do not start paying it off until they are earning above a particular threshold. Once a graduate starts earning more than $51,550, their employer needs to start deducting HELP repayments from their pay alongside…
The family of a man who passed away after going overboard during an Australian cruise last week has a hit out at the cruise line’s gambling policy. Shane Dixon, 50, went overboard just ten nautical miles from docking in Sydney on the Elvis-themed sailing aboard P&O Cruises Australia ship, Pacific Adventure. (Photo courtesy of P&O…
Australians with student debts are set to have hundreds of dollars added to their loans amid calls to change how increases are calculated. Some 2.95 million Australians have a Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debt, such as , totalling more than $78 billion in outstanding debt, according to the most recent Australian Taxation Office (ATO)…
OWENSBORO, Ky. — Since sports betting became legal in Kentucky, there has been a significant increase in people calling into the gambling addiction hotline. What You Need To Know October had the largest volume of calls Kentucky’s gambling hotline has ever received Dr. RonSonlyn Clark, President of the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling, says in…
When it comes to helping Americans manage rising health care costs, one increasingly popular policy stands out for both its simplicity and potential payoff: Buy up vast amounts of medical debt for pennies on the dollar and cancel it, thereby giving struggling families a break from one major stressor. Over the last two years, 15…
Betting giant Tabcorp has been ordered to stop accepting cash at its machines in Victorian pubs and clubs unless they are properly supervised by staff after a teenager – with gambling debts of nearly $100,000 – placed bets at multiple venues. According to the state’s gaming regulator, the 16-year-old was able to gamble on more…
If efforts to address record global public debt are to leave no stone unturned, then weak disclosure laws warrant deep scrutiny. Hidden debt is borrowing for which a government is liable, but which is not disclosed to its citizens or to other creditors. And while this debt—by its nature—is often kept off the official government…
Gamblers in 28 U.S. states can now make legal sports bets from their mobile phones, which has fed fears that a problem-gambling epidemic is building. When Rob Minnick needed money to fuel his betting habit, he often found it where a lot of gamblers do. He got a cash advance on a credit card. Minnick…