The November meeting of Investment Group 2 saw a more buoyant mood with the market having increased 3% since our October meeting. We discussed a range of stocks which had shown an increase in their price since July this year, and also touched on International events which made a positive contribution to some of these shares. The afternoon was completed by a brief comparative look at basic Taxation Rates in Australia, United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand. At afternoon tea we welcomed Bev Lee who took some photos of our group.

The next meeting of Investment Group 2 will be on Friday 4th December at 2pm in W4.

At the November meeting of Investment Group 2 we looked at basic taxation rates in Australia, United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand as shown in a comparative table. We noted that the rates of taxation in Australia were considerably higher than those in New Zealand. Also the number of levels of taxation in the United States is much larger than in Australia. There is no doubt that the Australians could benefit from an overhaul of the current Australian taxation system, especially if the rates of taxation in each bracket were to decrease by 3% or 5%. 
 
Whilst taxation rates are not a priority to share investors when they commence investing, over time they can become of increasing importance. This can happen when your share portfolio is increasing in value and you wish to sell a particular share. In this situation Capital Gains taxation rules are important, in particular the rule of holding an investment for twelve months to pay reduced tax on the capital gains. Readers should refer to the Australian Taxation website www.ato.gov.au and look up capital gains for further information.  

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