The Economy

 
Shocking air pollution is the major reason China is striving to cut its coal use.

Coal's future looking blacker

Ross Gittins 12:15 AM   It's clear Australia will have to lift its game if we're not to be seen as global bludgers.

Pathology battle in every clinic in the country

Pathology funding has been cut by about $250 million a year since 2010.

Tim Binsted 12:15 AM   The backlash against the government's pathology cuts is building steam.

Less interest in politics since Turnbull took over

Malcolm Maiden

Malcolm Maiden 7:23 PM   Malcolm Turnbull's success in getting politics off the front page could give him more leeway for reform.

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The corporate lie: tax transparency 'misleading'

Nassim Khadem

Nassim Khadem 7:09 PM   The list of tax paid by Australia's biggest companies may have raised more questions than it answered. Nevertheless, we needed it.

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18 of 70 tech companies on ATO list paid no tax

From left, Microsoft's Bill Sample, Google's Maile Carnegie, and Apple's Tony King faced a Senate grilling earlier this year.

Nassim Khadem and Gareth Hutchens 11:45 PM   Some of the biggest tech companies in the world are paying little or no tax in Australia, an analysis of the Tax Office's data release shows.

Australia is still stuck in second

Australia ranks second-best in the world for its quality of life, the UN annual survey says.

5:14 PM   For the second year in a row, Australia trails Norway as the best place in the world for quality of life, the UN says. Switzerland comes in third.

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Multinational oil and gas giants paying no petroleum resource rent tax

Oil

Heath Aston   Some of the biggest multinational petrol and gas companies operating in Australia notched sales of nearly $30 billion last year but did not pay a cent in petroleum resource rent tax.

Strong jobs growth: where they are being created

Workers

Gareth Hutchens   Australia has recorded surprisingly strong jobs growth in recent months, and economists have been wondering where all the jobs are coming from.

Which companies are not paying tax

The ATO will continue to challenge the more aggressive arrangements.

Nassim Khadem and Craig Butt   Out of 1539 corporate entities, 38 per cent did not pay any tax in 2013-14.

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ScoMo wedges himself in tax reform

Michael Pascoe

Michael Pascoe   In all the analysis of the MYEFO budget update and the myriad suggestions for how to fix the tax take, one thing has largely been missed.

Five takeaways from the US Federal Reserve decision

Investors have often talked about the global economy since the crisis as reflecting a "new normal" of slow growth and low inflation. But, just maybe, we've really returned to the old normal.

Vanessa Desloires   But what relevance does the central bank of the world's biggest economy have to Australia? Here are five takeaways for Australian investors

Top ten companies paying no tax

Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan.

ASX data shows more than 20 per cent of companies make an accounting loss in any given year.

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Zero tax: Many public companies paying nothing

Thursday's list of tax paid by public companies will give the public a more transparent picture about who pays what.

Nassim Khadem   About a quarter of the nation's 1300 public companies are paying no tax.

BlackRock tips RBA rate cut

Most economists forecast a no-change decision when the Reserve Bank of Australia meets on Tuesday.

Benjamin Purvis   BlackRock reckons the Reserve Bank of Australia will be forced to lower interest rates as challenges to the nation's economy mount.

Opinion

Will this US credit fund pop the post-GFC asset bubble?

Is this the long-dreaded popper?

Jeremy Warner   The low interest rate environment has sucked investors into all manner of high risk assets. Is this the long-dreaded popper?

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Treasury calls it: housing boom over

Michael Pascoe

Michael Pascoe   Without strong home building, what's supposed to lift economic growth?

Slowing property boom 'good thing'

Glenn Stevens,governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, sat down with the Australian Financial Review for his annual interview.

Mathew Dunckley   The easing of property markets is welcome and essential says RBA governor Glenn Stevens.

Petrol companies aren't passing on falling prices: ACCC

Falls in petrol prices aren't being passed onto motorists.

Marc Moncrief   Petrol is not as cheap as it should be, and the government's consumer watchdog is worried that customers are being gouged.

Low US rates could stick around

Investors have often talked about the global economy since the crisis as reflecting a "new normal" of slow growth and low inflation. But, just maybe, we've really returned to the old normal.

Neil Irwin   A 200-year history of interest rates shows the real aberration looks like the 7.3 per cent average experienced in the United States from 1970 to 2007.

Australia should be 'alert to risk of recession'

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Mark Mulligan   Global bond fund manager Pimco forecasts another year of sluggish growth .

Why on earth does Australia still have tariffs?

Leon Berkelmans dinkus

Leon Berkelmans   We don't have to do deals, this nation can cut its own path on trade.

RBA says it still has scope to cut

Low interest rates are keeping consumers at the the shops, the RBA says.

Michael Heath   Low interest rates are supporting household spending, says RBA.

Michael Pascoe

Real innovation doesn't need the IT crowd

Michael Pascoe

Michael Pascoe   If you really want innovation, you don't need IT millionaires and a billion-dollar government package.

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BHP chief wants more female scientists

CEO Andrew MacKenzie.

Andrew Mackenzie   Gaining greater diversity is part of challenging innovation from every angle.

EXCLUSIVE

ATO's business hit list revealed

Generic Singapore skyline. July 2015 photo Louie Douvis AFR

Nassim Khadem   Hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue could be up for grabs as the Australian Taxation Office announces reviews of multinationals using offshore hubs in Singapore to minimise their tax.

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ATO extends deadline for foreign investors

The ATO extension will allow foreign investors greater time to familiarise themselves with tougher laws that result in hefty fines if they don't register land they own in Australia.

Nassim Khadem   Foreigners who own land in Australia now have until the end of February to come forward and register, with the Australian Taxation Office announcing on Monday extended time for overseas investors to declare agricultural land.

The ugly truth about the budget is what we need

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Treasurer Scott Morrison have decided against an immediate ban in borrowing from SMSFs for investment in property, despite views from eminent economist Saul Eslake that it could lead to something similar to the US subprime crisis.

Peter Martin   Expect the unvarnished truth on Tuesday, because there's little point in lying.

China's stabilising growth aids US Fed decision makers

China and its economy are under the microscope.

China's latest round of data showed fresh evidence of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy, clearing a potential hurdle for higher borrowing costs in the biggest as Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues meet this week.

Turnbull's tax reform striptease has started

Ross Gittins

Ross Gittins   It's time to start ruling out some of the options even if business doesn't like it.

Leaders sound alarm on budget as economists predict billions wiped from revenue

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Gareth Hutchens, Matt Wade, Mark Kenny   Australia's federal and state leaders have issued a stark warning of growing budget pressures across all levels of government amid calls for the federal government to dramatically reset voter expectations about the health of Australia's public finances.