Today
Tax bracket indexation an ‘aspiration’, not policy: Dutton
The opposition leader said his plans to tie personal income tax rates to inflation will not require an election mandate.
This Month
‘Lurching towards collapse’: experts slam Labor and Liberals on tax
Economists and tax experts have panned Labor and the Coalition over election promises, accusing them of breaking with orthodoxy and shirking significant reform.
Politicians are offering cash but aren’t fixing our problems
The world is on fire and Australians need smart policies way more than we need smart politics.
Policy ping-pong won’t deliver housing affordability
A future government will inherit a dog’s breakfast of housing and tax policies and be left to clean up the mess.
Dutton is pursuing a housing subsidy so bad, even Trump killed it
The policy is highly regressive, and will simply boost house prices and blow a huge hole in the personal income tax base that will never be recovered.
Our tax system is a dog’s breakfast. Here’s a 3x3 blueprint to fix it
Three “maxims” to guide the changes. Three “no-regrets” steps either side of politics could institute right away. And three “big-picture” medium-term measures.
Libs commit to tax reform, but ‘budget repair comes first’
Peter Dutton says waving through the budget tax cuts would have been the easy thing to do, but they were unaffordable.
March
Dutton losing the political race for lower taxes
Rather than replicate the Howard government’s innovative tax reform thinking, Dutton has instead lazily copied from the less creditable playbook of his political hero.
Three budget problems bigger than the puny tax cuts
The pre-election row over the tax cuts is a political distraction from the substantive problems Jim Chalmers’ fourth budget fails to address.
How a $10 billion tobacco tax became a smuggler’s jackpot
Our tobacco policies haven’t made it more expensive to smoke. They’ve actually made it cheaper to smoke.
The tax cut that will only buy you a coffee
The Labor government appears to have chosen a cut confined to the lowest rate so that it could stick to its “tax cut for everyone” slogan.
Just like the ASX, Chalmers’ pitch is mired in Australian mediocrity
The ASX’s malaise is also evident in the ‘lay-buy’ budget. But solutions require the sort of courage and long-term thinking lacking in business and politics.
The crackdown on smokers has left a $9b hole. Here’s how to fix it
Treasury expects to collect just $7.1 billion in tobacco excise next financial year, as high prices force consumers to buy illegal cigarettes.
Labor isn’t even trying to fix the real problem
It’s a decade-of-deficits budget without a budget policy or agendas for tax reform or economic growth, just as Trump smashes the global order that has supported our prosperity.
No time for political feuds over tax reform
Australia needs a better tax system to boost productivity and growth. Both major parties should be talking with urgency about their plans for reform.
Chalmers rules out any more income tax cuts
The treasurer has rejected giving working-age people further relief from bracket creep and ruled out broader tax reform in the next term of government.
Budget must spend political capital on economic reform
The challenge to the major parties is there. Both of them could work with independents to guide meaningful reforms through parliament.
Bracket creep means you keep less income. Indexation would end the stealth tax
Adjusting for inflation would not only give relief to taxpayers but allow for real reform that would enable political parties to fulfil their promises to lower taxes.
Debt-laden ‘poor state’ Victoria to get GST bailout
Victoria will become a “mendicant state” next financial year, receiving a $3.9 billion boost in GST as Queensland suffers a $2.4 billion reduction in funding.
Tax take to hit 19-year high
Veteran budget watcher Chris Richardson forecasts tax receipts will hit 23.8 per cent of GDP this year, the highest since the Howard government in 2005-06.