The economics of deregulation is supposed to be straightforward: business groups support it, community groups oppose it, and governments “get the balance right”. The recent push to streamline state and federal environmental and planning laws has followed exactly that script. The push to remove so-called “green tape” has the appearance of a philosophical position based

While it is impolite to say so these days, Canberrans don’t pay much tax. While this week’s Commonwealth budget as well as the ACT’s review of the territory’s tax system back up this conclusion, it is unlikely to have much impact on the calls for lower taxes to take the pressure off the cost of

The Treasurer has just done the books for Australia and many of you will be preparing to do your own as the end of the financial year approaches. Don’t forget that all donations of $2 and above to The Australia Institute are tax-deductible. So if you’ve enjoyed receiving Between the Lines, please consider donating before

Thank you to all our Facebook and Twitter fans who contributed to the great success of our ‘Is Australia a high tax country?‘ infographic. It has had more than 25,000 views and more than 1,700 shares. Not bad for our first attempt! Over the coming months we hope to release a steady flow of infographics

 As the miners look tough, the government looks weak, Crikey, 7 May  Super changes penalise rich, ABC (PM), 3 May NAB keeps a bit on the side, giving rivals excuse to avoid full rate cut, The Canberra Times, 3 May Banks hoard rates cut despite huge pressure, The Daily Telegraph, 3 May End the price

TAI

Reading this year’s budget one is reminded of the cargo cult mentality that was expressed by Treasury in the late years of the Fraser government. Substitute Japan for China and this could be 1979 or 1980. At the time, then Treasury head John Stone lectured the nation on how it needed to import more rather

 In spite of the Treasurer’s boast of an economy “that has earned us a AAA-rating from all three major ratings agencies for the very first time in our history”, with a GDP of 1.5 trillion dollars, low unemployment (4.9%), low inflation (1.6%) and low interest rates (3.75%), the 2012 budget has failed to find an

The government’s obsession with achieving a surplus of one per cent of GDP seems to be the new medium term goal around which spending decisions have to conform. As the budget papers put it: In current circumstances, fiscal policy should be concerned with restoring the budget to a position consistent with the Government’s objective of

Budget speeches are always carefully scripted to try and influence how the media frames its coverage. This year the main message the government wanted conveyed was that it is spreading the benefits of the mining boom. But as is so often the case, the budget papers belie the priorities outlined in the Treasurer’s speech. Beyond

Budgets are usually summarised with clichés: smoke and mirrors, robbing Peter to pay Paul or the devil is in the detail. If this budget had a cliché it would be ‘missed opportunity’. The government, having locked itself into a political commitment to ensure the budget is in surplus by 2013, was forced to confront a

If the mining industry was a political party, it would make the current federal government look like a success story. The miners are internally divided, running entirely contradictory messages and are increasingly unpopular in the published opinion polls. But luckily for the miners, it is far easier to make billions of dollars selling resources you

The standard excuse for why Australians pay far higher prices than Americans for clothes, consumer goods and cars is to highlight the high transport costs associated with the tyranny of distance. So what is their excuse for more expensive music and software downloads? Dearer data costs due to longer cables? You might assume that because

Wouldn’t it be nice to decide how much you were worth? And wouldn’t it be even better to be able to force people to give you the money you think you deserve? Of course it would, but then again, we can’t all behave like the big four banks. In most industries when customers buy less

Note to Joe: Australians support a rise in the Newstart Allowance Your tax dollars helping the mining industry …. …. while they inflate the amount of tax they pay. Recent publications Recent media Events Note to Joe: Australians support a rise in the Newstart Allowance Could you live on $245 a week? Many recipients of

 Survey indicates unemployment benefits are not enough to live on, The Canberra Times, 24 April What lies beneath, The Global Mail, 19 April Thousands miss out on parent payments, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 April What’s good about a surplus? The Canberra Times, 14 April What electricity will really cost under a carbon tax, Crikey,

Are unemployment benefits adequate in Australia? R Denniss and D Baker, 23 April Pouring fuel on the fire: The nature and extent of Federal Government subsidies to the mining industry, M Grudnoff, 18 April Match making: Using data-matching to find people missing out on government assistance, D Baker, 18 April Showing their helping hand: The

 News this morning that workers at a Ford car plant in Melbourne might be temporarily stood down because of problems with a supplier provides an opportunity to consider whether unemployment benefits in Australia are adequate to cover the cost of living. It follows the decision by Toyota to lay off 350 workers at its Altona

The government announcement on Tuesday that it accepts all of the recommendations of the Broadbent inquiry into the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is a high-water mark in the politics of perception. The commitment to spend $10 billion on renewable energy and energy efficiency helps convince the public that the government takes climate change seriously.

pramSince early 2010, The Australia Institute has researched the extent to which Australians who are entitled to government assistance are missing out. Given the populist focus on ‘welfare cheats’ we thought it would be interesting to examine the flip side of the coin. In Missing Out: Unclaimed government assistance and concession benefits we estimated that

Firms are keen on self regulation. They claim it works because they are transparent, accountable and good corporate citizens. In March, Rio Tinto released a voluntary report called Taxes paid in 2011, which showed the amount of tax that Rio Tinto paid worldwide. Rio was upfront in its press release on why it had produced

At a time when the mining industry is earning record profits you might be surprised to learn that it is also receiving $4 billion worth of government subsidies and concessions each year. In a new paper commissioned by GetUp, The Australia Institute provides a breakdown of the amount of support the industry receives, which includes

Late last week the ACT electricity price regulator released its draft electricity pricing decision for 2012-13. And the political response couldn’t have been more predictable. The Coalition raced to highlight that, out of an estimated $244 increase in annual household electricity bills, almost $190 was attributable to the carbon price. Labor and the Greens downplayed

‘Who’s using the hot water?!” You can often hear that shout from someone trying to have a shower while someone else in the house is trying to do the dishes. The reason is simple; most houses don’t install multiple hot water systems to ensure that everyone in the house can simultaneously use as much hot

In our latest TAI newsletter Andrew Macintosh and Deb Wilkinson from the ANU’s Australian Centre for Environmental Law explain the likely threat of the mining boom on the Tarkine. For eight years conservationists have fought to have the Tarkine rainforest in Tasmania included on the National Heritage List. Yet despite its eligibility it is under

If business groups really want a simpler tax system, let’s get rid of unfair tax concessions. Would they agree? In a world of spin there is a simple way to find out what people really mean: give them a choice to make. Big business in Australia is banging on and on about simplifying the tax

Labor’s short memory Who wins, who loses from the mining boom? FREE PUBLIC FORUMS IN CAIRNS AND BRISBANE Why do we subsidise industry? LOVE YOUR THINK TANK – help us reach our target of 100 Recent publications Recent media Events Labor’s short memory This week we have seen the adjectives fly after news leaked of