ASSET CHECK

Time to reduce your tax bill

Daryl Dixon   ​With the end of the tax year looming, now's the time to implement strategies to reduce this year's taxation bills.

Negative gearing report linked to Morrison ally

James Massola and Peter Martin   Draft report makes bold claims that have alarmed some of the people it has been circulated to.

Hard to see clearly with so much ink

Peter Martin   Attack a squid and it squirts out ink. That could be why we are suddenly awash with reports on negative gearing.

'Aussie John' is wrong. Here's why

Peter Martin   ''Aussie John'' has got it wrong. Labor isn't planning to hit negative gearing on all established housing overnight.

Negative gearing's hidden taxpayer cost

Peter Martin   Taxpayers who negatively gear cost other taxpayers an average of $310 per year, a new analysis of Tax Office data shows.

BUDGET 2016

Budget 2016: max tax bang for buck

Melissa Browne   An accountant shares tax strategies arising from the 2016 federal budget for individuals, businesses, and employees.

$80,000 is anything but average Scott Morrison

Peter Martin   If Scott Morrison thinks that by offering tax cuts to Australians earning more than $80,000 he is helping average workers, he doesn't know much about what an average worker earns.

NEGATIVE GEARING

How investors outgun first home buyers

Caitlin Fitzsimmons   It's not just that one in three buyers are investors, it's also that they're disproportionately competing with first-home buyers.

Turnbull out on a limb over negative gearing

Peter Martin   You've heard the one about the one-year-old who's buying a house.

Tax benefits for top earners cost $11b

Peter Martin   Surgeons, anesthetists, finance managers and lawyers will be the overwhelming beneficiaries of the Turnbull government's decision not to touch negative gearing in the budget, research shows.

Still time to defuse the super time bomb

Peter Martin   Australia's tax system is set to skew toward the rich unless this government or the next intervenes.

Morrison needs a reality check on tax

Peter Martin   The government's theme for selling the budget reads like a Seinfeld script.

Coalition plans tougher crackdown on super to outflank Labor

Peter Martin   The Turnbull government is preparing to trump Labor in the budget, cracking down harder on high-income superannuation tax concessions to raise four times as much.

TAX

Easy tax deductions you've probably forgotten

Kate Cowling   Beyond the handbag or man bag, there are easy deductions taxpayers miss every year.

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.

NOEL GALLAGHER

Bracket creep is 'no big deal'

Noel Whittaker   Tax reform is in the spotlight.

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.