November 2022

Would further interest rate rises do more harm than good?

by Greg Jericho in The Guardian

In the past 7 months, the Reserve Bank has increased the cash rate by 275 basis points. That is as fast as any time since the RBA became independent. Given the pace of inflation growth, the rises are not wholly without cause, but as policy director, Greg Jericho notes in his Guardian Australia column the main drivers of inflation are now easing, and wages are yet to take off. In that case, should the RBA continue to raise rates given it will only slow the economy further?

October 2022

Bread & Butter Budget Defers Meat & Potatoes Revenue Reform to May ‘23

The October Budget delivers on a range of welcome bread & butter commitments, but has deferred solving Australia’s meat and potatoes revenue problems until at least May 2023, according to independent think-tank the Australia Institute. “The meat and potatoes revenue reforms Australia needs, like scrapping stage 3, a windfall profits tax, or fixing the PRRT

Fixing Broken PRRT Loopholes Would Raise Budget Billions: Research

New research shows multinational gas corporations are using sophisticated accounting tricks and loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of tax, despite making windfall profits. The new report Reforming the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax shows how billions could be raised in the Budget by fixing loopholes and cracking down on multi-national tax avoidance in the

The Reserve Bank needs to acknowledge the failures of the inflation target

A comprehensive review of inflation released today by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work reveals that the inflation targeting in place since the early 1990s is not the neutral policy many assume it is. In that time inflation has missed the target more from below than above, and has coincided with a shift of national income away from workers to profits as wages have stagnated.

Webinar on Wages, Prices, and Power

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is sponsoring a series of webinars for union members, delegates, officials, and leaders on the current crisis in the cost of living in Australia. The surge in inflation since economic re-opening after COVID lockdowns has obviously intensified that crisis. But the seeds for it were planted long ago: by a decade of historically weak wage growth, a speculative property price bubble, and a systematic efforts to weaken collective bargaining and unionisation.

Where’s the middle (income)?

featuring Ebony Bennett, Eliza Littleton and Matt Grudnoff

As pressure builds for the Albanese government to scrap the promised Stage Three tax cuts, discussion has shifted around who would lose out. The Australian said it would mean “2.5 million middle income Australians will pay thousands of dollars in additional tax,” but describes middle income Australians as individuals earning between $120,000 and $160,000 a

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