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

Once upon a time if a project couldn’t make a profit without government support conservative politicians would have called it a bad investment. Not these days. Take, for example, the Queensland government’s plan to spend $2 billion on coal transport infrastructure trying to make marginal mines in the Galilee basin financially viable. Even after enormous

The demise of the Australian car industry does not mark the end of taxpayer assistance in Australia, it marks only the end of highly visible assistance. The free marketeers didn’t win, they only defeated the easy targets. The real rorters not only still grow fat on the public purse, they lead the cheer squad for

Research by The Australia Institute, including modelling commissioned from NATSEM has shown that ending the GST exemptions for private education and health, both of which overwhelmingly benefits higher income earners could net the Government up to $2.3 billion per year. There are a number of ways for the Government to increase revenue, such as winding

New research finds that improved connections with health services for people leaving prison and their families is a critical first step in addressing mental distress and ensuring smooth reintegration into the community.  Unlocking Care, a new report from The Australia Institute, finds that the incidence of moderate and severe mental health issues increases after release

The Tasmanian Government is taxing electricity users to prop up the losses that keep bleeding from Forestry Tasmania. Indeed, the $30 million “woodchip levy” funded by Tasmanian business and households is significantly larger than the $22 million annual cost of the Renewable Energy Target that some Tasmanian businesses claim to be so disadvantaged by. Energy

It would be easy to highlight the hypocrisy of the government’s determination to rely on a price signal to reduce GP visits, versus its determination to avoid price signals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But what may look like policy inconsistency is actually a central element of the government’s strategy. Scrapping the carbon price helps

New research from the Australia Institute finds that the health and environmental impacts of wind and solar technologies are far less detrimental than fossil fuels.  Two reports were released today, examining the impacts of, and broad public attitudes toward, wind power and solar energy. They find Australians are overwhelmingly more interested in a future fuelled

Is it OK to break laws that you don’t believe in? Corporate Australia certainly seems to think so. Coles lost a Federal Court battle in June over the definition of “fresh”, when it was discovered their “baked today, sold today” bread range included products made overseas, frozen and transported months earlier. Coles took a slap

Women could be made billions of dollars better off if the Government considered gender issues when formulating the Budget, a new report from The Australia Institute reveals. Released today, The budget’s hidden gender agenda report finds that – in good times and in bad – women are getting a rougher deal than men from budget

Work/life balance worsens under burden of unpaid overtime Millions of Australian workers are losing the battle for better work/life balance due to excessive unpaid overtime and feel they have little control over how to change the situation, new research by The Australia Institute reveals. Released to coincide with today’s national Go Home on Time Day, Walking the

The Queensland government’s decision to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into the Adani coal project in the Galilee basin proves, once and for all, that the mining industry are leaners, not lifters.

On any given day, 2.8 million Australians have little certainty around what time they will finish work.  That’s the equivalent of one in four workers regularly having to juggle their other commitments such as child care, social activities or important appointments, because of the unpredictability of their job. Go Home on Time Day, an initiative