Unemployment is at an eight-year low and budget surpluses are locked in, but Chris Bowen will have to navigate falling house prices and slow wage growth to join Peter Costello in the budget surplus club.
Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index shows consumer confidence and expectations around housing and employment have improved since the budget.
The prospect of tax relief and a string of better-than-expected economic figures abroad and at home should lift confidence among investors and consumers alike.
Budgets have to be about sustainably lifting growth so all can benefit. That means policy settings that make Australia more competitive.
Super-strong retail sales and a household-friendly budget are diminishing the case for RBA interest rate cuts.
To return to more normal monetary policy settings (or just avoid even lower rates), we need more stimulus than this week's proposals will provide, writes Patrick Commins.
New Treasury figures obtained by The Australian Financial Review debunk the widely believed and misleading claim by critics including Labor that a worker on $45,000 will pay the same 30 per cent tax rate as an executive earning $200,000.
A Labor treasurer might be happy charging high earners big multiples of tax. But a Liberal one should not be.
Former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello says tax rates for 2023-24 won't be determined in this election, but the one after.
Tax cuts and debt reduction are based on rosy forecasts and heroic restraint on spending.
The new low and medium income tax offset greatly complicates the system, turning tax collection into welfare delivery, writes Robert Carling...
Universities say there is a lack of recognition of the value of research.
The federal government says it will save $28.4 billion in fewer cash payments over the next four financial years but not everyone is convinc...
The Coalition's surpluses might be a little too optimistic but ratings agencies have reconfirmed Australia's 'AAA' credit rating
Apart from a change to the energy assistance program, the Treasurer's budget launch went off without a hitch. See how the day unfolded here.
The Victorian Labor government is cynical about a $2 billion Melbourne-to-Geelong fast rail project.
Market expectations for rate cuts remained intact after the budget, reflecting caution over the government's efforts to ameliorate concerns ...
The stimulatory measures announced in Tuesday night's budget fall short of providing a meaningful boost to economic growth, analysts say.
The budget only held together because our high employment, low wage growth and inflation economy reduces government spending, writes Chris R...
Tax cuts announced in the budget could boost retail spending by at least 1 per cent in the September quarter.
Everyone gets a prize in Josh Frydenberg's first budget.
Chris Bowen could be the first Treasurer of Australia ever to deliver two "economic statements" before ever delivering a budget.
This budget should allow Scott Morrison and Mr Frydenberg to draw Labor into a fight about incentive and fiscal responsibility.
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