When an elected leader turns autocratic, the economy tends to suffer. That’s because, in a functioning democracy, economic policy is made jointly, with lawmakers playing a key role.
Politics podcast: Michael Keating on a Fair Share
The Conversation54,4 MB(download)
Keating told The Conversation that taxation revenue will need to rise by another 3 percentage points of GDP in the next three decades.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leave the Prime Minister’s office holding copies of the federal budget in Ottawa in March. Would Canada benefit from a Budget Honesty Charter of the type that’s had success in Australia?
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)
Australia’s Charter of Budget Honesty could be easily adopted by Canada. Such a charter can include suggestions for constraints and rules that encourage fiscal discipline.
Because the budget is a very difficult means of carrying out targeted fiscal policy, it’s become more important as a centrepiece for the government’s economic strategy.
With widening income differences and growing social divisions, citizens are less willing to support each other and taxpayers less willing to pay taxes.
Joe Castro/AAP
Trump’s trickle-down economic ideas to cut taxes and invest in infrastructure may not go to plan. So it’s not the type of fiscal policy leadership the world needs.
While Australia faces its greatest economic challenges in a generation, we are still waiting for the greatest economic reformers in a generation to arrive.
Although the Fed delayed raising rates this month, it has signaled it intends to wean the U.S. economy off its unprecedented monetary stimulus. Now the question is whether Congress will take the handoff.
Much like a Rio Olympics basketball match, the United States’ economy is coming out on top while Australia lags behind.
Jim Young/Reuters