Australian government wins plain packaging case against Philip Morris Asia
Gareth Hutchens The federal government has won its case against tobacco giant Philip Morris Asia challenging Australia's tobacco plain-packaging laws.
ABS survey finds an ageing Australia and jumps in Victoria, Queensland populations
Gareth Hutchens Australians are getting older. They are also flocking to Victoria and Queensland, and away from every other state and territory.
Book imports: economists call for lifting of restrictions
Gareth Hutchens A group of published economists has called on federal Parliament to lift the ban on parallel imports of books.
MYEFO budget update: The health of the budget and how it affects you
Gareth Hutchens MYEFO: What you need to know
Raising GST without hitting poorest: Parliamentary Budget Office's five scenarios
Gareth Hutchens There are five scenarios in which the GST could be increased without making the bottom 40 per cent of households worse off on average, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Tax reform: Ex-treasury chief Martin Parkinson flags 'once in a lifetime' opportunity
Gareth Hutchens Former treasury secretary Martin Parkinson has warned that Australia's living standards have already started to fall, and the country must act to pursue serious tax reform.
Innovation nation: Turnbull puts money where his mouth has been
Mark Kenny Chief political Correspondent, Gareth Hutchens New business ventures will be given exemptions from capital gains tax if sold after being held for more than three years as part of changes to tax arrangements to be unveiled on Monday.
Grattan Institute report points to progressive GST increase
Gareth Hutchens In an innovative new policy proposal, the Grattan Institute's John Daley and Danielle Wood say the Turnbull government could raise an extra $7 billion to $11 billion a year from a higher GST while...
Labor hits out as Scott Morrison lauds corporate tax avoidance deal with Greens
Gareth Hutchens and Nassim Khadem Treasurer Scott Morrison says he and the Greens have achieved one of the most significant changes to corporate tax avoidance laws in 30 years, after striking a deal that will force Australia's...
ACCC airs concerns over intellectual property provisions in Trans-Pacific Partnership
Gareth Hutchens The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission warns the investor-state dispute settlement provisions in the agreement risk making it harder for the Turnbull government to pursue domestic reforms...
No surplus in sight: Deloitte says budget billions worse than forecast as revenue crumbles
Gareth Hutchens and Peter Martin The Australian budget is facing deficits $38 billion worse than forecast and on present settings will never return to surplus, an authoritative new analysis finds.
Turnbull government responds to Harper review into competition laws, accepts majority of recommendations
Gareth Hutchens Prepare for sweeping changes to retail trading hours, taxi services, and road transport regulations.
Arthur Sinodinos once slammed government's new 'behavioural economics'
Gareth Hutchens A Coalition senator who was supposed to announce the Turnbull government's decision to create a team of "behavioural economics" advisers once slammed the Gillard government for pursuing similar ideas.
Turnbull government creates new 'behavioural economics' team of advisers
Gareth Hutchens The Turnbull government is creating a "behavioural economics" team of advisers, to be housed inside the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Medicare: Government 'may face political crisis' over rebate freeze
Gareth Hutchens The federal government may face a "political crisis" in a few years if it does not reverse the freeze on the indexation of Medicare rebates, the deputy director of the Menzies Centre for Health...
Electrical Trades Union snubs Labor, asks Greens MP Adam Bandt to speak at conference
Gareth Hutchens The Electrical Trades Union has snubbed Labor at its National Officers conference this week, asking a federal Greens MP to open the event for the first time.
Negative gearing benefits the rich far more than everyday Australians, analysis shows
Gareth Hutchens One of Australia's most respected public policy think-tanks says 'negative gearing' does not benefit everyday Australians in the way its proponents suggest.
Super tax concession cuts won't lead to big budget savings, industry warns
Gareth Hutchens The Turnbull government would save nowhere near as much from cutting super tax concessions as Treasury figures suggest, the financial industry has warned.
Malcolm Turnbull makes economic appointment that will please Coalition's right wing
Gareth Hutchens Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has beefed up his economics team, hiring former Treasury official and academic Dr Alex Robson as his economics adviser.
Tax hike: How a 12.5 per cent GST will cost houses three times more than carbon price
Gareth Hutchens A 12.5 per cent GST would collect the same amount of revenue for the Turnbull government as a $28 per tonne carbon price, but cost households about three times as much, new modelling reveals.
