This Month
We wasted a $400b windfall, and now we’ll all have to pay
An audit of federal finances finds Australia has never seen rivers of gold like this, but the hangover will be brutal.
February
Suckers like you will pay more tax to fund election bribes
The Canberra cash splash just delayed the timing of the next income tax cut by another five or six years.
Australia’s $10b tobacco mistake that’s helping criminals thrive
Unless and until we pair our tobacco taxes with matchingly strong enforcement, we’ll keep failing to fight illegal tobacco and cut smoking rates.
December 2024
Labor has wasted its budgetary luck, and now it’s running out
The luckiest government Australia has seen did not take the opportunity to get the national budget better prepared for the long haul.
November 2024
Lift the lid on the budget boondoggles
It’s up to the independent institutions to expose the extent of off-budget ‘investment’ ruses to hide the scale of government spending.
October 2024
How do we get back a lost decade of living standards?
Cracking the housing problem and empowering our economic institutions are two very good places to start.
May 2024
There’s a super-sized hole in the budget. Here’s why
The forecast bounce in the tax take on superannuation will not happen because we’ve massively overdone the concessions that take from poorer and give to richer Australians.
Why Chalmers’ budget made me very grumpy
I’m feeling as grumpy as I appear in my headshot. That’s because the big ask of the budget was not to poke the inflationary bear. It didn’t pass that test.
The government goes bold to poke the inflation bear
The Albanese government, after being cautious with its spending in 2022 and 2023, has decided to take risks this year. The greatest is that it brings the RBA off the bench.
February 2024
As budget bonanza flows, fiscal caution is the first casualty
The rivers of resources gold coming into the government’s coffers are turning into most expensive marginal seat strategy in the nation’s history.
January 2024
Can Albanese walk and chew gum on cost of living?
The prime minister’s package this week to help struggling households is all too likely to address the symptoms while inflaming the cause.
Why stage three tax cuts could complicate RBA rate cuts
Objections to stage three tax cuts on grounds of its size and fairness no longer stand up, but the Reserve Bank must carefully monitor their impact on inflation.
November 2023
Housing and migration have collided. One will have to give
The high immigration numbers are a temporary spike. But that does not help with the spectacular failure of housing supply to meet demand.
September 2023
Tax cuts will keep RBA on interest rate sidelines for longer
The budget will soon add the equivalent of around three interest rate cuts into the pockets of punters, bringing relief for taxpayers before borrowers.
Australia should tax better, but bigger GST is a reform killer
The politics are cruelly complicated, and the economics are less compelling than people think.
August 2023
Productivity leads to prosperity – here’s how to get there
There’s a huge lesson for today’s Australia from the biggest mistake of all in the Intergenerational Reports.
July 2023
Why we should be optimistic about inflation and jobs
The Reserve Bank’s smashing of demand gets all the headlines. But it’s the good news on job supply that is really turning the inflation tide.
May 2023
Vanishing deficit depends on heroic politics of NDIS reform
This budget’s place in history will depend on whether huge savings in the way the National Disability Insurance Scheme operates can ever be achieved.
April 2023
Lucky Chalmers is showered with budget rivers of gold
The surge of good news on revenues is temporary. The bad news on spending isn’t.
Treasury must think again about the budget and the tax take
With spending exploding, the Treasury might have good reason for understating its revenue outlook. But it’s not conservative any more: it’s silly.