This Month
Booze and ciggies tax down $12.5b as bootlegging, illegal tobacco boom
Soaring taxes have driven a fall in consumption but also a shift towards contraband.
- Phillip Coorey
Sydney train strikes to cause Christmas commuter chaos
Workers can resume industrial action after court win; Victoria’s assistant treasurer is brutally demoted. How the day unfolded.
- Updated
- Lucy Slade and Timothy Moore
More budget measures to come before the election: Labor
The government will spend the summer finalising new initiatives to woo voters, while striving not to further worsen the budget position.
- Updated
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Opinion
Labor striking right budget balance between relief, repair and reform
We know that if Peter Dutton and the Coalition were in charge, Australia would be in recession.
- Jim Chalmers
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Bigger and hidden deficits are the real MYEFO result
In its mid-year budget outlook, Labor is effectively doubling down on the bigger-spending, bigger government that has crowded out private investment.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Opinion
Budget update sounds a clear warning
Jim Chalmers is good at relaxed rhetoric about the economy. The mid-year figures are much tougher to explain.
- Updated
- Jennifer Hewett
- Opinion
- Federal election
Early election or not? MYEFO keeps us guessing
We enter the Christmas break none the wiser whether the government will hand down another budget before going to the polls.
- Phillip Coorey
Chalmers’ low iron ore forecasts open door for more spending
The government’s mid-year budget continues to price in iron ore at $US60 next year, offering scope for revenue upgrades and even more government spending.
- Alex Gluyas
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
MYEFO has short-term gain and long-term pain for investors
Growing government spending will help prop up tepid ASX profits. But investors should fear the longer-term issues that are being created.
- James Thomson
Coalition nuclear fund would deepen $90b off-budget blowout: Chalmers
A record $90 billion of spending over four years will be obscured in off-budget funds, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it would be worse under the Coalition.
- Updated
- Michael Read
$22b budget blowout; WFH is an ASX mess; The $3b Aussie wealth manager
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
Labor lifts M&A fees and bolsters phoenixing crackdown
Jim Chalmers’ mid-year budget update has increased fees for company takeovers and provided funding to boost penalties for dodgy behaviour.
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- Opinion
Labor is losing control of a broken budget
Despite near-record government revenues, a spending surge is causing a big blowout in budget deficits over future years.
- John Kehoe
Capital gains benefit spikes to $22.7b as property investors sell out
Treasury estimates forgone taxes from the capital gains tax discount in 2024-25 have more than doubled since the last estimate in February 2023.
- Ronald Mizen and Michael Read
Tax rise on $3m-plus super accounts ‘unfinished business’: Chalmers
Jim Chalmers says he’ll keep pursuing higher taxes on $3 million-plus superannuation accounts, but won’t go after negative gearing.
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Opinion
MYEFO should count the benefits of tax cuts, not just the cost
The PBO’s presentation of cuts to taxes as a cost to the budget dogs the tax reform debate with an over-emphasis on redistribution and revenue, rather than growth and prosperity.
- Alexander Sanchez
Departments pushed to defer spending to shrink deficits
Bureaucrats say they are being asked to “re-profile” expenditure to minimise the size of deficits in time for the federal polls.
- Phillip Coorey
China slowdown to rip $8.5b from federal budget: Chalmers
The treasurer’s downbeat assessment came despite Beijing last week announcing plans to stoke the country’s slowing economy next year with a “moderately loose” monetary policy.
- Ronald Mizen
- Exclusive
- Bill Shorten
NDIS growth curb ahead of schedule, but budget burden grows
The NDIS is on track to have its growth rate reduced to 8 per cent a year earlier than expected, but the cost of the scheme will continue to rise as a proportion of GDP,
- Phillip Coorey
Why this billionaire says Australia needs its own DOGE
American venture capitalist Tim Draper says reducing government spending will spur private sector investment, stimulating economic growth.
- Matthew Cranston