Scott Morrison said the Productivity Commission had been asked to inquire into the impact of the current system of horizontal fiscal equalisation.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The Business Council of Australia speaks for the big end of town - but does it still have the ear of government?
$2 a day bought me a lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian style diet (milk, eggs and fish) but with very small quantities of protein foods.
Peterfz30/Shutterstock
Last week I joined 8,500 Australians on the charity challenge to live below the extreme poverty line, spending just $2 a day on food for five days. It was tough and my diet was far from complete.
Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull will be working hard to prevent the kind of errors and complacency that have tripped up leaders before them.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
In his budget reply, Bill Shorten avoided the government’s traps and wisely stressed his party’s traditional strengths: health, education and social policy.
A handful of ideas to fix the tax system.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Malcolm Turnbull’s bold plan to give states the power to levy income tax is a risky move, and the latest in a string of attempts to ‘fix’ federal-state relations that have not succeeded.
Malcolm Turnbull is keen on big ideas, but so far has been slow to put any of his own into action.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Five months into his prime ministership, it is difficult to know what Malcolm Turnbull really stands for, and his government risks paralysis as a result.
We might be ambivalent about taxation because it challenges our sense of ourselves as individuals – and we may not trust governments to spend it properly.
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Many of us are happy for governments to increase spending on public services, but we don’t like the idea of higher taxes. There are some good reasons for this.
While a major tax switch is now not on, Scott Morrison is still heavily focused on the challenge of bracket creep.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Fairfax-Ipsos’ first poll of 2016 has the government ahead 52-48% on the two-party vote and Malcolm Turnbull leading Bill Shorten 64-19% as preferred prime minister. While the numbers for the Coalition…
Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash worked closely when he was a senator, and he has been a supporter of hers.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
In some circles they call Fiona Nash the “Barnaby whisperer”. It’s said she’s able to calm him down. In electing Nash their new deputy the Nationals have acted wisely.
Treasury modelling released by the government backs up Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to walk away from an increase to the GST.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Jay Weatherill's willingness to countenance an increase to the GST angered federal Labor colleagues. But he tells Michelle Grattan he has no regrets about his "circuit-breaker" intervention.
Economic models are not likely to give Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull any magic answers on tax reform.
Lukas Coch/AAP
As the government considers a tax reform agenda without changing the GST, Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer discusses tax and superannuation with Michelle Grattan.