The Henry Review argued changes to negative gearing would need to be offset by increasing housing supply, but this aspect is missing from the Labor proposal.
It would be easy to misinterpret a recent comment by federal Treasurer Scott Morrison as meaning that states and territories generate 90% of all revenue collected in Australia. That’s not the case.
The decision to terminate the statutory formula method under the fringe benefits tax regime will have significant ramifications on the car industry, the local car manufacturing industry and employment…
Budget night has come and gone again. For those sad folks (I count myself among them) who follow tax and fiscal policy obsessively, it’s the most glamorous night of the year. But the budget does matter…
When assessing some of the assumptions underpinning Wayne Swan’s 2013 federal budget, two things spring to mind: the Henry Tax Review and the notorious inaccuracy of forward estimates. History shows it…
There can be no dispute with last week’s call from the Business Council of Australia for meaningful tax reform. This is a larger issue than both the looming budget and September’s election. However, it…
Today, the Australian government announced additional taxation of high income funds in the decumulation or retirement stage of investments in superannuation. Arguably, the changes add more to complexity…
The Commonwealth government’s mining tax, the minerals resource rent tax (MRRT), has been a continuing source of controversy. It is easy to point to its significant problems, but a considerable challenge…
Why hasn’t the Minerals Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) produced significant revenue? The answer lies in a combination of basic features of the MRRT design, and the recent fluctuation in prices of iron ore and…
Reform of Australia’s taxation system has to be high on the agenda to raise national productivity, for greater simplicity, and to improve equity. However, because of the magnitude of the challenges to…
In his 2012 State of the Union address US President Barack Obama lamented the fact that billionaire Warren Buffett faces a lower tax rate on his income than his secretary. The situation arises because…
Last week was quite a big week in tax, although when the dust had settled it was not clear what — if anything — had really happened. First, the Treasurer announced in the Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook…
With appropriate investment in design and explanation, a larger GST reform package could be one of the most effective and easiest options to help reverse Australia’s lagging productivity growth. Changes…
Will the long tail of the internet be docked by the fastidious imposition of GST to online purchases? Australian retailers have been lobbying the federal government to up the ante on online GST by lowering…
There is almost unanimous agreement among mainstream economists, tax experts, Treasury, business and even politicians (albeit very quietly) that the Goods and Services Tax will have to be increased and…
Welcome to the latest in our In Conversation series, between former politician and economist Dr John Hewson, Australian National University (ANU) Crawford School Director of Policy Impact Professor Bruce…
Productivity growth results in more valued output per unit of production input, or the same output for fewer inputs. Growth of productivity requires changes involving the adoption of new technology, better…
A fundamental truism of economics is that if you tax something, you get less of it. Tax is thus a good place to start in seeking to explain why Australia’s housing market is chronically under-supplied…
Most of the reforms proposed by the Henry Tax Review appear to have died a quiet death. In his recent article on inequality in The Monthly, Treasurer Wayne Swan does not mention the Henry Review at all…
The introduction of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax into federal parliament marks the next step in Labor’s neoliberal tax reform agenda. Another example, the carbon tax, is poised to pass through the Senate…