Budget Policy
12 July 2019
Lessons from Australia’s intergenerational election
Older Australians are not selfish. They care about the welfare of their own children and grandchildren, as well as the world they are leaving for future generations. There is little evidence that wealthy retirees voted largely in self-interest at the federal election.
3 July 2019
The Treasurer should be planning economic stimulus now
Ominous clouds loom over our economy. Here’s some policies Josh Frydenberg should be turning his mind to — and some he should not.
2 July 2019
Stage 3 of the tax cuts would return Australia to the 1950s
Australia would go from having a relatively progressive income tax system by international standards to having one below average among OECD countries.
20 June 2019
Why super is a burden on the budget
Compulsory superannuation saves the government money on pensions — but nowhere near enough to pay for the accompanying tax concessions. Lifting compulsory contributions will make things worse, for a century.
16 May 2019
The Lowest Blow of the Campaign Award goes to… the real estate agents
Don’t be scared by the real estate agents’ dire warnings. Labor’s negative gearing policy won’t raise your rent. And if you’re trying to buy your first home, it just might boost your chances.
14 May 2019
If franking credits and negative gearing didn’t exist, no one would invent them
The reality is that no major party would be able to defend introducing these policies today. And if you can’t make that case, we should worry less about abolishing them.
2 May 2019
The gaping holes in Labor’s 20% pay boost for childcare workers
Fair pay for childcare workers has been a long time coming. But this issue and those workers deserve a better and more detailed policy response than Labor’s headline-grabbing promise.
9 April 2019
Potentially unaffordable, and it still won’t fix bracket creep. The Coalition’s $300 billion tax plan assessed
High-income earners, those in the top fifth of the income distribution, would pay a smaller share of tax under the Coalition’s plan: 65 per cent in 2029-30 compared to 68 per cent today.
5 April 2019
This government is already on course back to deficit
The ultimate fiscal legacy of the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison government could well be a budget heading back to structural deficit towards the end of the forward estimates. If only they could have been happy with just average.
1 April 2019
Expect a budget that breaks the intergenerational bargain
Working-age Australians, as a group, pay more in taxes than they receive in either benefits or spending. These contributions support older Australians who take a lot more out in spending and pension payments than they contribute in taxes. Today’s working-age Australians expect the generation after them to support them in the same way as they age. But this longstanding intergenerational bargain is under threat.