19 July 2018
Sorry Scott, But The GST Fight Isn’t Over
It is a safe rule of thumb to assume that whenever a minister or a bureaucrat says “no one will be worse off”, that means everyone will be worse off. For proof of this, consider the so-called GST “reform” proposed by Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison earlier this month. Morrison’s proposal followed the recommendations made by the Productivity Commission to tinker
3 July 2018
Current Australian Tax Cut Debate A Tale Of Two Populisms
Since 2007-8 – the last time Australia enjoyed a budget surplus and zero net public debt – government spending has increased by 78 per cent. Spending now makes up 25.4 per cent of GDP. By contrast, government revenue has increased by 61 per cent and makes up 24.9 per cent of GDP. For those of us who thought John Howard
28 June 2018
Half Of Australian Workers Worse Off Under Shorten Company Tax Thought Bubble
Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs has today released new analysis based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, which finds that almost half of Australian workers would be worse off under Labor’s plans to increase company taxes. Bill Shorten this week announced he would reverse legislated company tax cuts for businesses between $10-$50 million turnover. The data
26 June 2018
3.55 Million Workers Will Benefit From Enterprise Tax Plan No.2
The Coalition’s proposed Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan No. 2) will reduce corporate taxation from 30% to 25% over 2019-2027 for all businesses.1 This builds on Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan) Act 2017 which reduced corporate taxation from 28.5% to 27.5% for companies under $25 million turnover in 2017-18, and from 30% to 27.5% for companies under $50
22 June 2018
Tax Cuts? What Tax Cuts?
The government has pulled a switfy. They’ve got everyone thinking they are going to cut taxes. They aren’t. Taxes are going up under the government’s income tax plan which passed the Senate yesterday The government’s own budget figures show that revenue from personal income tax will rise six per cent in 2018-19, five per cent in 2019-20, and seven per
24 May 2018
It’s Not Just Tax And Spend But Tax And Lie
If Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull were corporate CEOs, they’d be done for misleading and deceptive conduct. They claim that the 2018-19 Budget will cut taxes. To most people, this would mean the amount of tax they pay next year will be less than what they pay this year. Yet, the government’s own Budget figures show that taxes are rising
18 May 2018
Tax ‘Cuts’ Are Rises To Pay For Spending
The budget is littered with titbits mostly designed to garner political support. There’s the targeted, low and middle-income tax offsets which will provide relatively small tax cuts for those earning up to $125,000 per year. There’s the proposal to raise the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket from $87,000 to $90,000, which will stave off bracket creep for
14 May 2018
Measures To Tackle Black Economy Are Suspiciously Totalitarian
The Turnbull government’s proposed ban on cash payments above $10,000 is a disturbing breach of our right to privacy, an attack on the basic liberty of free exchange, and will worsen Australia’s red tape crisis. The aim of the ban, which was announced in the budget with other measures to tackle the “black economy”, is to prevent money laundering and
9 May 2018
Budget 2018: What Have You Achieved?
Treasurer Scott Morrison’s budget speech opened with the remark ‘What have you achieved?’ to which the chamber responded with howling laughter. This was the fifth budget of the Coalition government and may very well prove the last before the Australian people hand power to Bill Shorten and Labor. This provides an opportune time to answer – what have they achieved? More
