No recession, but a big policy ask ahead
The economic ghouls may be disappointed that last week’s real GDP read-out for the quarter came without a minus sign.…
It’s boom time for the public service pen pushers
With the NSW Treasurer handing down the state’s 2019-20 budget last week, the big three states — which also include…
Time to patch up our ragged economic miracle
Australia’s vaunted economic miracle is looking a bit ragged after another sluggish quarter. There is still growth, but barely enough…
Venezuela’s not alone at the end of the road to serfdom
Venezuela in social and economic collapse provides a contemporary case study of where socialism takes a country, but one too…
Are we really still the economic wonder down under?
Australia continues to gain international recognition for its exemplary economic performance and to be highlighted as a case study in…
Budget (almost) balanced; now for the vote buying
One of the rituals of the federal Budget cycle is the release of a final budget outcome for the preceding…
The inequality storm in a teacup
The idea that economic inequality is a problem — and an increasing one — demanding public policy remedies has taken…
It’s easier to buy votes than sell policies
What do Scott Morrison and Vladimir Putin have in common? For one thing, they’ve both backed down from proposals to…
The rich get richer while the poor get… richer too
One of the striking results of the survey of millennials released by the Centre for Independent Studies last month was…
Guess who’s got a poll next year?
Every budget has a theme, whether real or concocted. For the NSW budget tabled last week, the theme is “putting…
The moral and economic case for tax cuts
It is difficult to find anyone in politics willing to make a case for income tax cuts for anyone considered…
The tax cuts menu
With the Turnbull government raising expectations of personal income tax cuts in the forthcoming budget, the question is whether it…
Revenue and responsibility
The Queensland government submission to the Productivity Commission review of GST distribution suggests the Commonwealth government should share its income…
Will 2018 see GST magic?
Reforming the system of GST distribution among the states – horizontal fiscal equalisation, or HFE – is unlikely to be…
The unnecessary royal commission
If truth is the first casualty of war, then banks are the first casualty of populism – even in a…
We must not forget the fundamentals of free markets
The twentieth century taught us enough about the limits to government intervention that the Australian energy market debacle — a…
Is it really all smiles for NSW?
Alarm bells should ring when treasurers resort to hyperbole to describe their budget achievements. With Paul Keating in the late…
Fiscal funny games and milking miners won’t win the West
One of the maxims of fiscal policy is that when a government is on the hunt for revenue, weird and unexpected things can happen. Everyone…
Budget 2017: bank levy is just a populist revenue grab
So much can be said about the 2017-18 federal budget — little of it complimentary — it’s hard to know…
When 50 per cent off is no bargain
Reducing the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount is one of a welter of tax ideas to receive attention…
Borrowing binge raises the debt roof
Scott Morrison returns to his desk this week with enthusiasm for company tax cuts reinforced by impressions gained from an overseas…
MYEFO: revenue raisers v expenditure cutters
The Commonwealth government’s mid-year budget update shows the deficit/debt problem is no closer to being resolved. In 2007-08 (the last…
How green is the grass on the other side
The change of prime minister has put New Zealand in the news on this side of the ditch, and we…
The government’s a mess, but remember Labor’s old ideals
Remember all that Marxist/Leninist guff, circa a century ago, about public ownership of the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy? If…
Death and taxes (and even more taxes)
Australia’s state and federal death taxes (aka estate duties or inheritance taxes) were consigned to the graveyard of abolished taxes…
