On Monday afternoon, President Obama delivered what sounded like a speech on tax policy. In reality, though, the speech dispensed more politics than policy - politics carefully crafted to secure Obama…
The Prime Minister is selling the Schoolkids Bonus as extra help for families, but is it good policy?
AAP Image/Penny Bradfield
The 2012 federal budget has been described as “a big taxing, big spending budget” with a big focus on welfare. The first spending measure to be legislated and to come into effect is the new Schoolkids…
Julia Gillard’s revenue neutral tax reform package will be a tough sell.
AAP
In summing up a business summit in Brisbane on 13 June, the Prime Minister floated her intention to lower the company tax rate - but as part of a business tax revenue neutral package. This intention raises…
Australia’s not-for-profit sector is undergoing considerable reform.
Howard.
“How much should the taxpayer contribute to the charitable whims of donors?” This comment was made in an article in the The Guardian on 16 April. It was referring to the fact that the UK Coalition government…
The tax transfer system does not treat all families equally.
Sean Dreilinger
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…
Paul Cleary’s book Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future, is a timely appraisal of the dramatic economic and social impacts, as well as the political ramifications of the current resource…
Changes to the MRRT will leave a gaping hole the revenue the tax originally promised.
AAP
Federal Labor’s mining profits tax was originally designed to be a redistributive measure from a very profitable section of capital to all of capital through company tax cuts. The mini-me Mineral Resources…
Paul Cleary’s book, Too Much Luck, paints a negative picture of Australia’s mining industry.
AAP
CORRECTION: Stephen Kirchner’s review of Paul Cleary’s book Too Much Luck said he “wants the Foreign Investment Review Board to use its powers to force foreign companies to buy local”, and that he has…
Scripted beforehand: Tax Forum discussion about a lower corporate tax rate followed predictable lines.
AAP
As former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry observed, much of the national conversation that took place at the first session on business taxation at the National Tax Forum could have been scripted beforehand…
Ken Henry at the Tax Forum: talkfest or useful?
AAP
So the Tax Forum is done and dusted. Was it simply a talk-fest? Or a useful exchange of ideas? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, if you missed anything, don’t despair: we’ve collected some of…
Australia needs a tax on unhealthy foods that covers more than just fat content.
Flickr/ms Tea
Australia should follow the lead of Denmark and consider taxing foods high in saturated fats to curb the nation’s growing obesity problem, Greens leader Bob Brown said at yesterday’s tax forum. This week…
The Tax Forum must ensure we have a sure-footed approach to reform.
AAP
Periodic tax reform is necessary as governments respond to new patterns and forms of economic activity and the inevitable political pressures these changes create. Yet the politics of tax reform is politically…
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says the FTT could raise 55 billion euros a year.
AAP
Momentum is building behind the global campaign to impose a tax on transactions in financial markets, with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announcing plans to introduce the measure as…
The local government sector could serve as a valuable model for taxation reform.
Flickr/David Jackmanson
There is a contradiction at the heart of tax reform. Timid governments, worried about a voter backlash, do too little, too late. Yet in the medium to long term, major structural changes in the economy…
President Obama has proposed $US1.5 trillion worth of tax increases for the rich.
AAP
Sometimes good policy and good politics are the same thing. By tying together lessons learned from economist John Maynard Keynes and former president Harry Truman, Barack Obama is taking steps that may…
Record terms of trade have masked dropping productivity growth - until now.
AAP
What is to be done about Australia’s deteriorating productivity performance? It’s by no means inconceivable that the answer to this question could be “nothing”. Historical precedent strongly suggests Australians…
Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel believe an FTT can help solve Europe’s debt woes.
AAP
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have announced a plan to impose a financial transactions tax (FTT) for the Eurozone, as part of an effort stem the bloc’s worsening…
High profile Wickenby targets like Glenn Wheatley make good headlines, but conflate avoidance and evasion.
AAP
Distinctions matter. Maybe lawyers devote more effort than the average citizen to making distinctions, and invest the ones they find with improbable significance, but these are occupational hazards. Even…