Fair Tax Reform
Australia is one of the lowest taxing countries in the developed world and too often the term ‘tax reform’ is used to conceal demands for more tax cuts. The Australia Institute has been at the forefront of pushing the national debate beyond ‘debt and deficit’ to examine revenue and to protect Australia’s progressive tax and transfer system.
The Australia Institute had an enormous policy win when after two years of Australia Institute reports and analysis, explainers, opinion articles, podcasts, briefings and open letters to Parliament, the Government’s proposed large company tax cuts were shelved in June 2018 due to a lack of support in the Senate to pass the legislation.
In the beginning, the Australia Institute was a lone voice in the public debate arguing the economic case against company tax cuts. The whole of the business sector was in support of the tax cuts, but quality research won out over the vested interests of the big end of town and the Senate blocked the tax cuts from passing into law.
The defeat of the large company tax cuts was a good economic outcome, a good budget outcome, and it was good for Australia’s long-term revenue base and the services and infrastructure it can fund.