Show 307 Tuesday 6 March

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today I wanted to tell you about this site.

They have some good online activities for learning vocabulary.
Most of them are for Japanese speakers.
But there is one part which is for native English speakers.
So I tried a lesson called: Erudite Vocabulary 1

Erudite is a formal adjective which means having or showing great knowledge that is gained from academic study.
So I don’t think I’m very erudite.

I studied these words in the lesson:

niggle
fleer
defalcate
adumbrate
kvetch
posit
bruit
immure
aver
tincture

I don’t recommend you study them, because most people don’t understand them, so they’re not very useful.

I just wanted to check out that software. And I think it’s a really system for learning vocabulary. And it’s a good example of what is possible in terms of language study software.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora, this is Stick News. In New Zealand, a 22-year-old accountant has been jailed for defrauding the tax department of over half a million dollars.

Roydon McLaughlin left school when he was 16 to study accounting at university.
He then became an accountant.
New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department collects approximately 85% of government revenue.
In New Zealand, people pay a kind of tax called Goods and Services Tax (GST).
GST is 12.5% and is included in the purchase price of goods and services.
Businesses only pay GST on the difference between what they sell and what they buy.
They receive a refund from IRD if the GST paid on purchases is higher.
McLaughlin set up 34 fake partnerships, trusts and companies.
His fake businesses included horse breeding, babywear retailing and internet shopping.
He then filed fake returns to get GST refunds.
Between January 2004 and May 2006 he filed 340 false returns and received 540,000 dollars.
Each return was for a small enough amount to be automatically processed by the IRD’s computer system.
IRD eventually noticed the fraud after a receptionist became suspicious of new IRD numbers which had the same postal address.
McLaughlin has a gambling addiction and spent most of the money on gambling. The government only recovered 16,000 dollars.
McLaughlin was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months in prison.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday 6 March.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

The temperature has been really high recently, so the snow has been melting and today the roof of the cave collapsed. Poor little cave.

conversations with sarah
#187 How much is it?

Step 1: Repeat Eri’s lines.
Step 2: Read Eri’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Eri Do you have consumption tax in New Zealand?

Sarah Yes, it’s called GST in New Zealand.

Eri How much is it?

Sarah 12.5%.

Eri Really?

Sarah Yeah. It’s 5 percent in Japan, isn’t it?

Eri Yes. Has it always been 12.5% in New Zealand?

Sarah Since 1989. Before that it was 10%.

Links

Today's news.
GST
IRD