Malcolm Turnbull dampens talk of affordable housing focus in budget
Prime Minister Turnbull has cooled expectations of an affordable housing "centrepiece" in the budget.
Federal Budget news
Labor hits foreigners, vacant properties and super funds
Foreign home buyers, vacant properties and self-managed super funds will be targeted in a pre-emptive strike.
The next boom is under way – before another bust
A Caterpillar and Komatsu cavalry is arriving just in time to save the next two federal budgets.
Economic rebound forecast in IMF's 'sneak budget preview'
The IMF changes tack as the budget approaches.
'This thing's gonna blow': Top economists' interest rate warning
An overcooked housing market and rising interest rates are poised to plunge thousands of Australian families into mortgage stress.
Home internet should be tax-exempt for employers that allow staff to work flexibly: Telstra
Home internet services should be exempt from fringe benefits tax to take account of the fact that more Australians are working from home, telecommunications giant Telstra says.
One in three new home loans at risk, warns RBA
One third of new mortgage owners have less than a month's buffer against financial instability, the Reserve Bank has warned.
Christopher Pyne lashes colleagues for public disunity ahead of budget
Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has chastised his Coalition colleagues for publicly debating whether the government should allow first-home buyers to raid their superannuation savings.
What happens if China stumbles? A $140b doomsday scenario
Australia is more exposed to the economy of a single nation - China - than at any time since the 1950s, when Britain was our major trading partner.
Budget razor gang to consider medicine scheme shake-up
The Turnbull government's powerful budget razor gang is set to consider a reform package for the $10 billion PBS.
Cut immigration to reduce housing pressures, says Tony Abbott
The former prime minister says there is nothing "sacrosanct" about Australia's immigration numbers.
Axe hovers over 'hopeless' work-for-the-dole program
Powerful expenditure review committee discusses axing one of Abbott's first major policy achievements.
Australia could be 'left behind': Rio calls for tax cut
Australia received the bulk of Rio Tinto's taxes over the past year, even as it remains locked in dispute with the tax office over tax shifting abroad.
Budget measures to encourage migrants out of capital cities
The Turnbull government is considering new measures to encourage more migrants to settle in regional or remote areas to relieve pressure on house prices and infrastructure in Sydney and Melbourne.
'Stronger for longer' resource prices to buoy government coffers, boost exports
Government coffers will benefit from the "stronger for longer" spike in commodity prices.
Federal budget to tackle Australia's $21b 'black economy'
Black economy is hard to tackle because Australians see cash-only payments as 'almost a national sport'.
How the Senate saved the government from itself
Why do companies invest here? We mightn't have needed to cut that company tax much anyway.
How Turnbull can kill stamp duty and produce a budget to remember
There's still time to craft a budget that actually does something.
Someone has to give if we're to fix the budget
The nation's budget problem still won't be solved when, one day in the distant future, we get the federal budget back into surplus. Only a change in strategy is likely to produce a sustained solution.
Abused public servants help bring Turnbull down
There's no clearer sign that the Turnbull government is in deep political trouble than the never-ending saga of the Centrelink robo-debt stuff-up.
Budget battle as Treasurer won't commit to saving mining windfall
Australia's top economic bureaucrat has begged the government not to spend the coming windfall from soaring coal and iron ore prices, saying if it did it would repeat the mistakes of prime minister John Howard and treasurer Peter Costello in the early 2000s.
Australian economy grows by 1.1 per cent, beating expectations
Australia has avoided a second consecutive quarter of negative economic growth, rising by 1.1 per cent in the December quarter and beating market expectations.
The simple fix to make high-earning investors pay $240m more tax
High earners are negatively gearing their way out of the Medicare levy.
Cut the company tax rate, says Treasury boss John Fraser
Treasury boss John Fraser has implored Parliament to consider cutting the company tax rate, saying it would be "critical" to respond to international competition.
Company tax cut payoff will 'take years'
The Turnbull Government proposed company tax cut would cut national income for years before it boosted it and would never be self-funding, a new analysis from the Grattan Institute has found.
All high earners to pay Medicare levy surcharge under budget proposal
All high income Australians would pay the 1 to 1.5 per cent Medicare Levy Surcharge under a budget proposal that would raise a breathtaking $4 billion per year, more than 6 times the net amount saved in the first Turnbull budget.
I've been Trumped – and it is so very embarrassing
"Alternative facts" make it hard to develop a rational attitude about government revenue, expenditure and the future of Australia.
Memo Scott Morrison: there ain't no jam jars
What's this about a "locked box"?
No budget bonanza: Forecasting panel sees weak year ahead
Few of Australia's leading economists expect the government to deliver the cut in the budget deficit promised.
Economists believe commodity run is probably done
It is rare to find much unanimity among economists, but one of the few things they agree on is that the trough in commodity prices of 2016 will not be repeated. The question for now is how far will prices retreat, especially following the March quarter, which often marks a cyclical high.
Resource spending downturn yet to bottom
The collapse in resource sector investment has yet to run its course, with the looming completion of as much as $100 million of spending on gas export projects to slash the level of engineering construction to the lowest level since 2009, a report by Deloitte Access Economics has found.
Cutting company tax won't drive investment: Australia Institute
New research ridicules the prime minister's claim that cutting the company tax rate will boost foreign investment, pointing out that almost all of Australia's foreign investment applications come from countries with much lower tax rates.
Australia's biggest tax break: you're sitting in it
The family home has eclipsed superannuation as Australia's biggest tax break.
How the Tax Commissioner was leant on to deliver high-end tax cuts
When Scott Morrison rose in Parliament to promise high-end tax cuts, he knew he faced a powerful obstacle.
MP urges Morrison to extend $20,000 instant asset writeoff
A popular Abbott government initiative could be given more time if the Small Business Minister gets his way.
Company tax cuts wrong move, says Costello
Proposed cuts to company tax have come under fire from former federal treasurer Peter Costello for being less effective at boosting the economy than personal tax cuts.
Call that a budget improvement? The ratings agencies won't
The ratings agencies won't fall for it, and neither should you.
What's a AAA credit rating and why does it matter?
What is this rating, where does it come from and does it matter? Your AAA-rating questions answered.
A soft drink tax will make us less fat. But here's what it will do to prices
The United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, Fiji, Mexico, South Africa and parts of America have sugar taxes. Australia could be next.
End the age of entitlement - for seniors
Australia's tax system has become skewed towards a growing and apparently untouchable group of 'taxed nots' - they are older Australians who pay roughly $1 billion per year less tax than younger Australians in the same circumstances, according to a new Grattan Institute report.