Albanese has been positioning himself for the role of Labor leader.
Joel Carrett/AAP
Geoff Crisp speaks with Michelle Grattan about the week in politics.
Cutting back on dividend imputation will pay dividends to Labor budgets for years to come.
Shutterstock
Bigger surpluses, lower debt and tax cuts baked in the Coalition’s worst nightmare come true.
It’d be wise not to get too bamboozled by figures when watching the leaders’ debates, especially this one.
Shutterstock
Focus on what they’re doing, not on whether they say it’s spending or a tax cut.
The budget tax cuts aren’t tax reform, and probably can’t be paid for over the longer term.
Mick Tsikas/AAP/Shutterstock
Should the Coalition’s $300 billion of tax cuts ever be enacted, they would push the budget back towards deficit.
Much of what’s been promised would have had to happen anyway.
Shutterstock
The promised tax cuts will benefit high earners in 2022 and 2024, but by then they’ll need it.
Frydenberg denied the government was indulging in a “cash splash”.
Rohan Thomson/AAP
As the government dropped news of the payment Labor signalled that if elected, there will be another budget in August.
Father and child stand outside closed National Air and Space Museum in Washington, Jan. 2, 2019.
Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
The government shutdown provided a short-term version of what some activists have long wanted: A government small enough so that you could ‘drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.’
Neither Treasurer Josh Frydenberg nor Finance Minister Mathias Cormann would commit to banking the proceeds of improved economic circumstances.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
When assessed by the government’s own rules, MYEFO fails. The government is spending the latest revenue windfall even though it promised not to.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison puts a gift under the Salvation Army giving tree at his office in parliament house.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The budget line known as “decisions taken but not yet announced” points to $9 billion of unannounced tax cuts.
People of color, women and the LGBTQ community are just some of the groups who often get slighted with tax reforms.
Andrey_Popov/shutterstock.com
Real tax reform is about more than cutting taxes to woo voters. It’s about making the system fairer.
Announcements are pouring out in what is already a faux election campaign, with the government at the weekend unveiling nearly $52 million to Headspace for youth mental health.
David Mariuz/AAP
The latest national polls come just days out from Saturday’s Wentworth byelection, which will determine whether the Coalition is forced into minority government.
Peter Rae/AAP
Michelle Grattan speaks Mark Evans about the week in Australian politics.
Bill Shorten’s tax cuts compromise follows a fierce backlash from business and an outcry from some senior colleagues.
AAP/Joel Carrett
Labor’s compromise will allow firms with turnovers under $50 million to keep the tax cut that will be in place at the election.
Greens urge Labor to vote against the whole of Malcolm Turnbull’s income tax package.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The estimates have been prepared by the independent PBO, at the request of the Greens. The opposition has repeatedly sought annual figures, but the government resisted the demands.
There still isn’t clear research showing company tax cuts will increase employment or wages.
Shutterstock
Comparing companies that receive a tax cut with those that don’t isn’t the right methodology to conclude that tax cuts create more employment or higher wages.
Chris Samuel/Flickr
NATSEM analysis of Treasury data shows most of the benefits of the 2024-25 cuts are implemented flow to high income earners.
The government should remove age based tax breaks to boost budget revenue.
GLENN HUNT/AAP
Here are five ways the Treasurer could boost revenue to make the numbers work.
Morrison says the budget will deliver tax relief for middle to lower income Australians.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The government is pinning its hopes on making this election all about tax – casting itself as champion of lower tax and Labor as signed up to what Morrison dubs the “high tax club”.
The results of next week’s Newspoll will be eagerly awaited on both sides of the House.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The Coalition braces for the next Newspoll, while a redistribution gives Labor reason to smile, and the Batman byelection results are finalised.
If we examine the proportion of people employed in Australia, as compared to the US, it tells a very different story.
Justin Lane/AAP
Unemployment rates have risen in Australia while falling in the US. But Australia has experienced a much smaller decline in the proportion of its population who are in work.