Research // Inequality
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March 2021
Opportunity lost
In March 2020, the Government lifted almost half a million Australians (470,000) out of poverty, including 75,000 children, by introducing the coronavirus supplement worth $550 per fortnight.
February 2021
Unemployment payments and work incentives: An international comparison
A study of 33 OECD countries shows that Australia could substantially lift its unemployment payments without any meaningful disincentives for working. The Government has argued that Australia’s internationally low unemployment payments are needed, in part as an incentive to encourage the unemployment to look for and accept work. This briefing note tests the Government’s theory
November 2020
September 2020
Early tax cuts as stimulus – gender analysis
The benefit from bringing forward personal income tax cuts would mostly go to high income men. Despite recession job losses affecting women more than men, $2.19–$2.28 of the tax cut will go to men for every $1 that goes to women.
Early tax cuts as stimulus
Bringing forward personal income tax cuts would see more than 50% of benefits go to the highest 10% of income earners and 79%-91% of benefits to the top 20% of earners. Just 3%-4% of the benefit would go to the lower half of all income earners. High income earners would save some or all of
July 2020
Poverty in the age of coronavirus: State Breakdowns
The Australia Institute modelled the impacts that removing the coronavirus supplement would have on the number of people in poverty. The national results and an explanation of the modelling are available in Poverty in the age of coronavirus. State specific figures can be found in the following reports: Poverty in the age of coronavirus –
Poverty in the age of coronavirus: The impact of the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement on poverty
Removing the coronavirus supplement in September will push over 600,000 people into poverty including 120,000 children and half a million people who rent or have a mortgage. This will have a profound impact on the lives of many children for the rest of their lives and significantly impact housing and banking in Australia.
June 2020
The Reconstruction Memorandum
November 2019
Polling – Land tax reform
New research from The Australia Institute has found strong support amongst South Australians for land tax aggregation, funding for affordable housing and measures that would require politicians to reveal personal interests before voting on land tax legislation.
October 2019
Taxing debate on land in SA
Aggregating the land portfolios of property investors in South Australia, so that they pay tax on their investments as a whole, is a fair reform that will help to raise the revenue required to fund public services. Drastically reducing land tax rates in a way that primarily helps property investors with portfolios valued over $1
August 2019
Submission: Socio-economic conditions in the Murray Darling Basin
The Australia Institute made a submission to the Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Murray-Darling Basin. The socio-economic conditions of the Murray Darling Basin share many characteristics with other areas of regional Australia – lower incomes and difficult access to important services. These should be addressed as well as the mismanagement of
July 2019
Homeshare: Getting on Together
The Australia Institute and Homeshare Australia made a joint submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. The submission outlines the wide range of economic and social benefits homeshare programs provide, such as alleviating loneliness and avoiding entry into residential care. The Royal Commission has an opportunity to recommend government investment in
December 2018
A Fair Go for All Australians
November 2018
Submission to Senate inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia.
October 2018
Polling: Income Tax and Inequality
The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,449 Australians about income inequality and income taxation. Overall most respondents agreed with principles of progressive taxation and disagreed that income tax in Australia should be made less progressive. Key Results: + 74% of respondents agreed that if the gap between high and low incomes grows,
August 2018
Four Views on Basic Income, Job Guarantees, and the Future of Work
The unprecedented insecurity of work in Australia’s economy – with the labour market buffeted by technology, globalisation, and new digital business models – has sparked big thinking about policies for addressing this insecurity and enhancing the incomes and well-being of working people. Two ideas which have generated much discussion and debate are proposals for a
In the company of winners
Exploring the Decline in the Labour Share of GDP
The share of total economic output in Australia that is paid to workers (in the form of wages, salaries, and superannuation contributions) has been declining for decades. Workers produce more real output with each hour of labour (thanks to ongoing efficiency improvements and productivity growth), but growth in real wages has been much slower –
July 2018
June 2018
Gini out of the bottle – inequality in Australia is getting worse
Inequality is getting worse in Australia with the income share of the top 10% growing at the expense of everyone else. On Monday 18 June, The Australia Institute, Australia21 and the former Treasurer, the Hon Wayne Swan MP, jointly hosted a roundtable discussion in Parliament House on dealing with economic inequality in Australia. The report was
May 2018
High income earners the big winners from scrapping 37% tax bracket
In the 2018 Budget, the government announced a radical plan to reshape the income tax system over the next seven years. While the first stage of the plan largely involves tax refunds for low and middle income earners, stage two and three would remove the 37 per cent tax bracket – and, as a consequence,
Radical plan to increase inequality in Australia revealed in budget
The centrepiece of the budget is an enormous income tax cut over seven years. This is unusual because the budget papers only show the impacts of policy changes over four years. What is also unusual is that the big parts of the tax cuts start in the fifth year, just outside the budget’s forward estimates
Remote control: The Community Development Program, remote Australia’s Work for the Dole scheme
The Community Development Program (CDP) is remote Australia’s Work for the Dole (WFD) and “job assistance” scheme. In place since 2015, it operates across almost 75 percent of Australia’s area, an area with a population of just 304,000 people. Indigenous people are over 80% of the CDP’s 34,000 participants. In other words, CDP participants are
February 2018
Braddon lags behind
In recent years, Tasmania has seen economic growth and development. However, the benefits have not been evenly distributed. Hobart has received the lion’s share with less going to the regions. This report focuses on the West & North West region of the state, an area that mostly overlaps with the electorate of Braddon. This electorate
January 2018
How low income households use electricity
The cost to households of the electricity they use has been a sensitive political issue in Australia for at least the past six or seven years, and seems certain to remain so. That was certainly the case in 2010-11 when the then Labor government was negotiating passage of its package of carbon pricing/emissions trading legislation,
July 2017
Palm trees and palm-offs: Australia’s climate action and distraction in the Pacific
As Fiji prepares to chair climate talks in late 2017, Pacific leaders are gathering in Suva to consider what policies to push for. One should be a moratorium on new coal mines. Australian government ministers are actively promoting subsidies to the world’s largest new coal mine, Adani’s Carmichael project. When Pacific leaders have called for
June 2017
Labour Share of Australian GDP Hits All-Time Record Low
Amidst increasing concerns among economists and budget forecasters about the historic stagnation of Australian wages, the latest GDP statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have confirmed that the proportion of national economic output that is paid to workers has reached an all-time low.
March 2017
The Impact of Penalty Rate Cuts on Personal Tax Revenue and Welfare
Research from the Australia institute has calculated the impact of the recent Fair Work Commission decision to cut penalty rates on the Commonwealth Budget. The paper from Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute, found reduced income tax collection from lower wages as well as greater welfare assistance for low income earners is, based on