Tax
WELL HEELED
How to claim a handbag as a tax deduction
Melissa Browne Handbags can be tax deductible if you use them for work, but the Tax Office is fussy about documentation.
Commission backs Labor tax policy to balance budget
Peter Martin, Jessica Irvine A high-powered independent commission has backed Labor's approach to capital gains tax and negative gearing, undercutting prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and treasurer Scott Morrison who say it will "smash" housing prices.
Meet the millionaires who pay no income tax
Peter Martin Paying tax has become optional for 56 of Australia's highest earners. Newly-released tax statistics show each of the 56 paid next to no income tax in 2013–14, not even the Medicare Levy, even though each more than $1 million.
We are becoming a nation of landlords and serfs
Peter Martin Forget the Australian dream, we just want to ‘get ahead’ now - with negative gearing.
Tax wine as beer 'and raise $2.9b'
Peter Martin Taxing wine and cider the same as beer and lifting the rate by 5 to 6¢ for a glass of beer would raise $2.9 billion a year, much of which could fund tax relief, the Treasury has been told.
Modeller lauded by Coalition opposed negative gearing
Peter Martin Negative gearing encourages excessive use of debt, lifts overseas borrowings and raises real interest rates, according to the economist whose work on the subject has been lauded by the treasurer Scott Morrison.
Economy picks up as income dives, budget weakens
Peter Martin Australians shrugged off sliding national income and meagre pay rises to dip into their savings at the end of last year, delivering a surprise surge in spending that pushed up economic growth to 3 per cent, well in excess of the budget forecast.
ASSET CHECK
Labor plan encourages higher gearing
Daryl Dixon If the tax-exempt proportion of capital gains is cut to 25 per cent, it will change the original objective of taxing only real capital gains.
Turnbull walks away from tax reform
Peter Martin The Turnbull government has all but abandoned tax reform, ruling out most of the options presented to it, and zeroing in on just two: the excessive use of negative gearing and the excessive use of concessional super contributions.
Terrified on tax: why Turnbull will squib it
Peter Martin So much for big reforms. Don’t expect Malcolm Turnbull to present a bold tax plan. He’s too scared of putting voters offside.
Bracket creep is code for cutting high-end taxes
Peter Martin Many of us would welcome bracket creep if it meant actually getting a pay rise.
There's more than one way to kill negative gearing
Peter Martin The big problem is the capital gains tax concession.
ASSET CHECK
Capital gain changes are more taxing than negative gearing
Daryl Dixon The ongoing tax reform debate has created new difficulties for making medium and long term investment decisions.
Negative gearing losses biggest in ACT and WA
Peter Martin The Australian Capital Territory is the nation's biggest loser according to a new analysis of tax statistics, with Western Australia a close second.
Morrison's tax change: From the poor to the rich
Peter Martin The most shocking thing in the treasury analysis delivered to Scott Morrison on January 25 isn't the finding that a cut in income tax funded by a lift in the goods and services tax would boost the economy not at all.
Beware, the states are about to hike up taxes
Peter Martin Now that a GST rise is off the table, expect state governments to do the tax reform that the Federal Government won’t.
$440,000 to model tax, but the results shouldn't be taken literally
Peter Martin The government is paying private consultants $440,000 to model the effects of tax changes in an exercise the head of the Treasury says shouldn't be taken too literally.
Morrison: No GST hike this time
Treasurer Scott Morrison has conceded that an increase in the GST is extremely unlikely, saying it means the May budget will have room for only small income tax cuts.
What tax debate?
Peter Martin Of all the questionable claims in the tax debate, the biggest it's that it's been a debate.
Why PM killed the white paper and probably a higher GST
The tax white paper is dead. So too (most probably) is an increase in the GST.
CAR FINANCE
Car packaging still worthwhile
Leasing a car through work is still worthwhile. The tax advantage is not as great as it used to be, but there are still savings for most people.
GST hike is a solution in search of a problem
Peter Martin We need a clear goal if the attempt to change the tax system is to succeed.
Tax on luxury family homes rejected
Peter Martin A government frontbencher has all but killed a proposal to apply capital gains tax to the sale of luxury homes by ruling it out before the Coalition even considered it.
Off the table: why the GST won't be lifted to 15 per cent
Peter Martin So out of favour is the idea of increasing the GST that by the time the government releases its tax options paper in the new year a 15 per cent GST might not even be on it.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Capital gains tax may apply when you split units
George Cochrane We live in combined flats as our permanent place of residence and neither one has ever been rented. We wondered if upon sale of either flat we will have to pay any capital gains tax? A.D.
ASSET CHECK
Push your savings up a gear
Daryl Dixon Given the ongoing uncertainty about the future tax treatment of superannuation, investing in the family home and gearing investments now offer more certain benefits.
Be afraid, they are coming for your super
Peter Martin Forget the GST – it's tackling the burgeoning problem of superannuation that will show whether the Treasurer is serious about fixing tax.
ASSET CHECK
Super proposals would make tax system less fair
Daryl Dixon If superannuation is made less attractive, it would encourage the well off to over-invest in the family home and do even more negative gearing of investment properties.
ASSET CHECK
Savers under attack
Daryl Dixon People relying on their past savings for their retirement income face being big losers in any increase in the GST tax burden.
