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Enormous rise in tax take to power return to surplus
Australia's return to budget surplus will be built on the back of a 14 per cent increase in the income tax take.
Australia's return to budget surplus will be built on the back of a 14 per cent increase in the income tax take.
Without robust government, nothing stands between citizens and a rapacious corporate sector.
There are still good people crunching the numbers to show that it would be possible to adequately compensate the disadvantaged while changing the GST mix and/or the rate.
It's too early to be sure, but not too early to suspect that, if we and the other developed economies keep travelling the way we are, conventional wisdom about what constitutes good economic policy may soon need to be turned on its head.
The big banks won the last great war against government interference, 70 years ago.
When Australian leaders speak about tax, their words tend to be utter tosh.
So much government aid goes to people who don't need it, and politicians seem helpless to stop it.
Before the budget Treasurer promised 'good debt' and 'bad debt'. What we got was more sensible.
The budget pushed low-income earners' marginal tax rate up towards 100 per cent.
The Turnbull government's budget measures may hit women earning below-average wages with an effective marginal tax rate of 100 per cent.
The economic future that the Treasury has forecast for Australia is, sadly, a nonsense.
Scott Morrison's budget projections rely entirely on orthodox economic thinking about what drives wages. Unfortunately that orthodox thinking is demonstrably wrong.
For students of the politics of economics – my special subject – this clothes-pinching budget has been a feast. Oh no, it's "Labor-lite". Shocking! Actually, it's a budget that ticks all the boxes for Malcolm Turnbull and, by extension, his parliamentary followers – something their silent acquiescence suggests they realise.
The infrastructure budget doesn't even deliver the Coalition's pledged Barton Hwy upgrade, MP says.
Anthony Albanese says Labor should have claimed victory after Coalition's 'ideological surrender'.
Adjusted for tricks, there's no chance of a surplus for a long time.
Repairing the damage of the Abbott Total Opposition years, will take time. But the budget is a big and quite calculated start.
Scott Morrison's hit on banks shows his preference for stunts over meaningful policy development.
The Liberals have always been right to portray themselves as the party of smaller government.
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson has joined calls for an investigation into the leaking of plans for a levy on Australia's biggest banks, saying it is possible insider trading took place.
Tobacco hurts men, alcohol hurts women. Surely that can't be why we're soft on drinkers?
Labor would require ATO to reveal details of companies the Tax Office cuts deals with as part of plan to recoup $5.4 billion from multinationals.
Will Scott Morrison's big spending, big taxing, big borrowing budget impart a big fiscal stimulus to the economy in the coming financial year? Not so much.
Unless we act seriously to preserve our threatened planet, all the budget's nuances will be meaningless.
The budget seems to have elevated hypocrisy and backtracking to new heights of shamelessness.
Spending will stay at or near record highs while revenue rapidly climbs to match.
The wages growth needed to deliver the federal budget prediction of a return to surplus is unlikely to materialise, employment law experts and economists have warned.
Malcolm Turnbull says his welfare drug tests are "based on love".
CBA boss Ian Narev has slammed the government's budget bank levy as an "opportunistic tax grab" and "policy concocted on the run" and warned that the cost would have to be borne by either customers or shareholders.
NSW and Victoria have effectively stolen money and power from the rest of Australia for 60 years.
Foreign aid reductions to see Australia tumble down OECD ranks of donor countries.
It's been a big week for budgets with endless analysis after the event and daily leaks during the run up.
Scott Morrison succumbed to hubris before Bill Shorten's budget reply, asserting that only two groups seemed to be unhappy with his audacious budget reset: the big banks and the Labor Party.
If you think the big new bank tax is outrageous and unfair, tell us what would be a better, fairer way to raise a quick $1.6 billion or so next year.
The country's biggest banks warn that a $6.2b tax could have "unintended consequences".
Federal budget 2017-18 live: Malcolm Turnbull continues to battle with banks
The federal budget is a rare opportunity to introduce big, bold decisions. Here are 9 ideas the Turnbull government missed.
Labor will put higher education at the centre of its response to this year's budget by announcing it will oppose all the government's major university changes, including the proposed rise in fees and slashing of the HECS repayment threshold.
Taking a redundancy could see workers forced to live on minimum wage for at least six months, with the government increasing the waiting period for welfare for people with savings.
The government will introduce its school funding changes into Parliament on Thursday.
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