Tag Archives: incometax

Hospital funding fight the latest illustration of the big problem with vertical fiscal imbalance in our federation

There is a deep structural problem underlying the current hospital funding fight between the Queensland Premier and the PM, the vertical fiscal imbalance (VFI) between the state’s spending responsibilities and the Commonwealth’s revenue raising powers. The states receive around half … Continue reading

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Premier’s 2016 Lodge dinner remark to Turnbull highlighted Vertical Fiscal Imbalance problem

I started reading Malcolm Turnbull’s autobiography A Bigger Picture on the weekend, and it’s much better than I expected, with lots of interesting revelations and insights into the last couple of decades of Australian politics. One of my favourites is … Continue reading

Posted in Tax, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Qld-Commonwealth argy bargy over dam funding & vertical fiscal imbalance

The argy bargy over dam funding between the federal and state government reported by the Courier-Mail (State accuses feds of holding out on dam money) earlier this week is yet another illustration of a big problem in our federation: vertical … Continue reading

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612 ABC Focus discussion on negative gearing – also featuring shadow treasurer Chris Bowen & Master Builders’ Paul Bidwell

Well done to Emma Griffiths for tackling the challenging topic of negative gearing on her 612 ABC Brisbane Focus program yesterday morning. I participated in an interesting discussion which also featured the deputy head of Master Builders Queensland Paul Bidwell … Continue reading

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Post-Budget lunch featuring Michael Knox, Morgans’ Chief Economist

Queensland has already received some good news regarding the upcoming 2016-17 Federal Budget, with the announcement two weeks’ ago that our share of GST revenue will be over $500 million higher in 2016-17 than we previously expected (see my post … Continue reading

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ABC radio interview on population growth & State income tax proposal

I had an enjoyable chat with Steve Austin on 612 ABC Brisbane radio this morning regarding two topics, Queensland’s underwhelming population growth rate and the State income tax proposal from the Commonwealth Government: Fewer people moving interstate to Queensland The … Continue reading

Posted in Migration, Population, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Brisbane ABC radio interview on raising the GST

I had a good chat this morning with Terri Begley on 612 ABC Brisbane regarding proposals to raise more revenue from the GST: What raising the GST actually means I noted that raising the GST and cutting more inefficient taxes … Continue reading

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Townsville ABC radio interview on GST

The GST debate continues, with much attention focused on the regressive nature of the GST. That is, because poorer households typically consume higher fractions of their incomes than richer households, they pay proportionally more of their incomes in GST. Hence … Continue reading

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Tax mix switch to GST desirable and inevitable

I’m very pleased the Turnbull Government is pushing to raise more money from the GST, as this would allow cuts to more inefficient taxes such as income tax and stamp duty, and would be good for productivity and economic growth. … Continue reading

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Medicare levy hike would not address major problem of vertical fiscal imbalance

The Daily Telegraph today reports some new modelling on the proposed Medicare levy hike undertaken by my old friend and former Queensland resident Ben Phillips, now Principal Research Fellow at NATSEM: Medicare: Levy hike would cost families $2000 a year … Continue reading

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