Senators Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus, Ricky Muir and Nick Xenophon will today call on the government and opposition to back broadening access to the Pension Loan Scheme (PLS) to any retirees who wish to use it. Press Conference: Senators together with The Australia Institute executive director, Richard Denniss, will be available for comment 10:45am, APH

The Guardian reported this morning International Monetary Fund calculations that world fossil fuel subsidies are running at $5.3 trillion dollars annually, or $10m per minute. In Australia, successive state and federal governments have given subsidies in the form of diesel fuel rebates, infrastructure funding and royalties discounts worth billions. TAI director of research, Rod Campbell,

A little bit of economic theory is a dangerous thing, and many of the people defending what BHP and Rio Tinto have done to the price of iron ore are demonstrating that they have very little economic knowledge indeed. Economists usually don’t like cartels, or other forms of producer protections, as they help producers and

Joe Hockey’s “do nothing” budget is better than his first “do harm” budget, but he still hasn’t tackled the big issues that face Australia in the wake of the mining boom, writes Australia Institute executive director and economist Richard Denniss. This article was produced for, and originally published by Crikey.com.au – Here. The economy described in

The Reserve Bank of Australia today cut interest rates to a new record low of 2%, but cited surging house prices in Sydney as a concern. In the lead up to next week’s Federal Budget, the Government has ruled out any changes to generous subsidies for real estate investors, in particular the Capital Gains Tax

The apparent Coalition aim of cutting taxes does not match its public declarations about reducing the deficit. But tensions within the Coalition make any move on taxes difficult. Does Joe Hockey think removing the deficit levy will make the deficit go away? Announced in last year’s budget, the temporary 2 per cent increase in the

The latest modelling of Superannuation Tax Concession distribution shows the inequality is growing as the cost to the budget surges. $12.2 billion, 41% of all concessions, are going to the top 10% of households. $17.8 billion, or 60%, go to the top 20%. “That leaves 80% of Australians to share the remaining 40% of what

As debate continues over ‘means testing the family home’, new polling shows 1 in 2 Australians think the government should require retirees with expensive homes to fund their own retirement incomes, through an existing but little known government scheme called the Pension Loans Scheme (PLS). “The PLS is essentially a government provided reverse mortgage, but

While a large number of people take advantage of negative gearing for residential investment properties in Australia, the majority of the benefits, in dollar terms, are more narrowly focused.  A paper released yesterday by The Australia Institute showed how the benefit of negative gearing was distributed by income and aged groups. Today TAI released data

Modelling from NATSEM featured in a new report from The Australia Institute and GetUp, reveals that more than half (55%) of the benefit of capital gains discount and negative gearing goes to the top 10% of income earners.   Australia is one of only three OECD countries with this type of negative gearing regime. Working together with

The Earth is flat, climate change is a conspiracy and the only way to collect more money for the states is to collect more money via the GST. How did the nonsensical belief that the GST is the one and only source of commonwealth revenue that can be transferred to the states come to be

Richard Denniss, Executive Director of The Australia Institute and long-time advocate of overhaul to the super tax concessions scheme, has welcomed moves on the issue by the Australian Labor Party but says it needs to be the start, not the end of the conversation. “Providing generous tax concessions to people who are already far too

New modelling by NATSEM, commissioned by The Australia Institute, shows many of Australia’s wealthiest people pay negative tax, and it’s costing the budget bottom line $4.6 billion. Report available here. Like most tax loopholes, the ability to convert ‘surplus’ dividend imputation credits to cash delivers most of its benefits to the wealthiest, with almost half

The iron ore price is well above its long-term average. Indeed, at $US50 per tonne it is well above the $US36 price that Wayne Swan inherited in 2007. Blaming the iron ore price for Western Australia’s budgetary woes is like blaming the sinking of the Titanic on the iceberg. Yes, it’s a factor and yes,

According to the International Monetary Fund, the Howard/Costello government was the most profligate in Australia for the last 50 years. Indeed, while the mining boom was gathering pace they cut taxes so far and so fast that they forced the Reserve Bank of Australia to rapidly increase interest rates. While countries like Norway took the benefits of resource price

A ‘Buffett Rule’ in Australia would limit the incentive for very high income earners to use excessive tax deductions and boost government revenue by $2.5 billion per year. The findings are outlined in a report from The Australia Institute: Closing the tax loopholes: A Buffett rule for Australia, which includes NATSEM modelling of a 35%

Last year Hockey was talking about cutting welfare payments but now, finally, he’s taking about taking on the vested interests in the superannuation industry to bring concessions under control. This time last year Joe Hockey sat on a silk chair telling Spectator Magazine subscribers about the need to cut welfare payments for the poor. Last

A new research paper from The Australia Institute reveals that home ownership rates in Australia are falling across all age groups, most significantly for people in their 50’s. Middle income earners are experiencing the sharpest decline in ownership rates.  The Australia Institute attended a housing roundtable hosted by Opposition Treasurer, Chris Bowen, in Sydney on

A tax on financial transactions, known as a “Tobin” tax, could protect superannuation investors, improve the operation of Australia’s capital markets and provide a source of tax revenue of over $1 billion per year, according to a policy brief from The Australia Institute. Tobin taxes or some form of financial transaction tax are in effect in

Australia has the fastest population growth of major developed countries, and projections show a reduced infrastructure spend per capita, putting huge pressure on major cities. “Since the 2000 Olympics the population of Australia has grown by 25 per cent. In fact, since the Sydney Olympics, Australia’s population has grown more than the entire population of

While it is not polite to admit it, the plan to reduce the tax paid by wealthy Australians is one of the main reasons that Treasury predicts we will have so much trouble paying for health and aged care in the future. This is all spelt out in the IGR, albeit in the appendices. Last

Originally Published in the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday 10th March.  Thanks to Peter Costello a retired superannuant drawing down $1 million per year, tax free, doesn’t even have to pay the 2 per cent Medicare levy. That is just one of the inequitable and unaffordable time bombs that the last Liberal treasurer planted for

The Intergenerational Report is a deeply flawed document based on deeply flawed assumptions according to Dr Richard Denniss, Executive Director of the Australia Institute. “The Intergenerational report should provide an opportunity to start a conversation about the Australia we want to have in the coming decades, instead it simply tries to scare the public into

The biggest fiscal problem Australia faces is that we are not borrowing enough to meet our short term circumstances or long term objectives. Australia’s population will nearly double by 2075. We are currently growing by around 400,000 people – the population of Canberra – every year. If we were are serious about quality of life,

A fundamental contradiction lies at the heart of the Abbott Government. Its assumptions about our national security and its assumptions about economic management are in stark contrast. Something has to give. Our foreign and defence policies are explicitly based on the assumption that the US will retain superpower status in the coming decades. But Joe

The Australia Institute (TAI) has challenged modelling and analysis used in a report from the Certified Practicing Accountants (CPA) which argues for increases to the GST. The CPA report assumes that the economy will grow more quickly because of cuts to taxes funded by the increase and broadening of the GST. “The economic model used

Both major parties are right to say pensioners can’t eat their homes – but only because the government won’t let them, argues The Australia Institute. The new Social Services Minister Scott Morrison is concerned about retirees who are cash poor but asset rich. Labor Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek raised similar concerns, saying: ‘You can’t eat

Governments serve their citizens best when they engage them through informed debate. Scare tactics are not an acceptable alternative. We need to talk about crises. Whipping up a good crisis has become the foundation on which every case for every reform is now built. Budget black hole! Budget emergency! We will wind up like Greece!

The Newman government was handing an Indian billionaire billions of dollars of taxpayer money for literally – literally – no reason. During the recent state election, both the LNP and Labor in Queensland broadly supported the Carmichael coal project by Indian mining giant Adani. The key difference was whether they were expecting the taxpayer to

New government figures reveal superannuation and housing tax breaks for the wealthy are costing the budget ten times as much as leaving the GST off fresh food. The Treasury statement also shows that the cost of one form of tax concession for superannuation is set to double. “The Abbott government says it will do anything