Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
Why tax-free imports are a retail red herring
Retailers would be better served lobbying government for policies other than raising inefficient taxes on low value imports. Read More
It’s time for surgery: the public purse is in dire health
Reducing inefficient spending may harm vested interests, but meaningful reform cannot occur if no one is ever allowed to be worse off. Read More
The magic pudding state
Australians want government to spend more money on us, but we do not want to hand any more of our cash over to the tax office. Read More
Better ideas than raising super guarantee
Is compulsory super improving retirement incomes and reducing future demands on the budget from an ageing population? Read More
Fairness is not equality
Income equality is not achievable, it is not desirable and it is not fair. Read More
Self-sustaining leviathan
How does Australia compare in the welfare dependency stakes? Read More
How taxing housing diminishes affordability
Australia’s under-supplied housing market and housing affordability problem is largely due to the tax burden on housing. Read More
Carmaker triumph or GM hypocrisy?
It's a product of public relations that Australians believe every government supports its own car industry, and looking at General Motors' ruthless cost-cutting of its European brands puts even more focus... Read More
Murray's Future Fund brace is broken
David Murray's defence of the Future Fund can only inspire doubt about the ability of sovereign wealth funds to enhance Australia's prosperity. Read More
Minimum wage is a two-edged sword
Like New Zealand’s young workers, Australia’s apprentices are also highly vulnerable to market fluctuations. Many of them are in their first job, have fewer skills, and therefore have less to offer... Read More
Why a sovereign wealth fund won't work
Many of the desirable objectives of a sovereign wealth fund could be achieved through greater use of enforceable fiscal policy rules that would enable politicians to make long-term commitments to responsible... Read More
Future Funds or Future Eaters? The case against a Sovereign Wealth Fund for Australia
It has also been argued that Australia needs a SWF to better manage the macroeconomic consequences of the “terms of trade” boom, such as the rising Australian dollar and the so-called “Dutch disease”.... Read More
In search of a Greek hero
To escape from its current mess, Greece does not need more Sisyphus work. It needs someone to tackle the Herculean task of cutting the country loose from Europe’s monetary union. Read More
The Fightback! lesson: how politics can stymie good public policy
Twenty years ago, the Liberal-National Party coalition released Fightback!, the most comprehensive and market-oriented policy platform ever taken to an election. Read More
Let the online bargain hunt begin, properly
Australians are being ripped off due to Government regulations, especially when buying cars, bananas, and dvds. Read More
Budget heat in a revenue drought
Governments in other countries are in deeper fiscal distress than ours, but governments at the federal and state levels in Australia are struggling with the consequences of a revenue drought after years... Read More
Business will cop super fall-out
THE Federal Government has introduced legislation to lift the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent by July, 2019. About 8.4 million Australians will have their superannuation savings boosted, it claims,... Read More
Avoiding conflict but quietly waving flag
Southeast Asian governments will welcome increased US involvement in the region. Read More
Spending Spree wasted decade of prosperity
NZ’s decade long spending binge was prosperity wasted. Read More
Liberals Drop Ball in Super Free-For-All
Lifting superannuation to 12% is wrong. Read More
Budget surplus fetish means more harsh spending cuts
The federal government will need to cut spending to ensure a surplus in 2012-13. Read More
Should super contributions be raised to 12 per cent?
Four experts debate the topic in The Question. Here is Adam Creighton's contribution. Some compulsory saving is sensible. People will rationally save too little when they know taxpayers will help support... Read More
Productivity needs a shot in the arm -- why not a GST boost?
Taxing saving is not only immoral but economically damaging as well Read More
A forum to demonstrate Labor has already failed on tax
Tax summit in Canberra proves Labor has failed on introducing any new tax policies Read More
Tax forum demonstrates Labor has already failed
Tax Summit in Canberra proves Labor Government have not implemented any new tax reforms. Read More
Sighs of relief heard from the bankers' bunkers
Alas, the GFC showed that it is impossible for democratic governments to let large financial institutions fail, however much they should. It is a government's job to free taxpayers from unwittingly providing... Read More
Wet ink on a euro death notice
The euro has been a moribund currency for years. The remaining options to buy it more time have been blocked by the German constitutional court. To end this farcical tragedy someone needs to put the final... Read More
Same cracks, just a new coat of paint
Analysis of the NSW Budget Read More
Time to revisit RBA board
Union leaders would have you believe that the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia is beholden to the big end of town, but the current unnecessarily tight monetary policy indicates that this is not the... Read More
NSW budget: time to cut and shed Mick Dundee image
With a public service head count just shy of 390,000, NSW puts the Commonwealth government, with a mere 270,000 staff, to shame. Macquarie Street employs 10% of the NSW workforce. Read More
Don't get starry-eyed about housing
In textbook markets there is no need for price forecasts. Prices are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. If you fed a supercomputer with all the relevant information about buyer preferences,... Read More
Don't get starry-eyed about housing
In textbook markets there is no need for price forecasts. Prices are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. If you fed a supercomputer with all the relevant information about buyer preferences,... Read More
A miracle that masks a mirage
As it turns out, there is not much in the German manufacturing example that Australia should copy. We would be much better advised to make the best of our own comparative advantages of being a resource-rich... Read More
There's no such thing as a free healthcare system
But when it comes to health, Australians spurn pragmatism and tear up the laws of economics. We shackle ourselves with a government-funded and managed health system with all the hallmarks of the former... Read More
A poisoned chalice of EU power
Eurobonds had not even been on the agenda (officially, that is), and an EU-wide tax on financial transactions almost certainly will die aborning. In another way, however, the Merkel and Sarkozy show was... Read More
Who needs credit ratings? They should be optional
Banks and investors should thrive or die by the quality of their own assessments of credit risk. They have the most incentive to get it right, writes Adam Creighton, a research fellow at The Centre For... Read More
Setting a European time bomb
The announcement by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade US government debt may have been historic but largely inconsequential Read More
US Congress swapped a crisis yesterday for a bigger crisis tomorrow
I provoked a tirade of abuse from Crikey readers in the past fortnight when I suggested it would be preferable that the $14.3 trillion United States debt ceiling not be raised. Read More
Dollars must flow if numbers to grow
Debate about Australia's population is framed with national aggregates and ignores how local governments deal with increased population. Part of the reason Australians are averse to more people is because... Read More
What our economists really think about politics
You might have expected that most economists, following Milton Friedman, view inflation as “always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” Yet only 40% of respondents agreed with the proposition that... Read More
Think local and give country towns the freedom to prosper or perish
FOR politicians, and especially for town planners, letting people decide where and how they want to live has never been an acceptable idea. Administrative elites have always been convinced they know better... Read More
Greece bailout: prolonging pain for no real gain
Rescuing the country with another bailout would only prolong the pain. Greece squandered money on the Olympic Games, an over-sized bureaucracy and easy loans Read More
Paying dearly for European insanity
it would be tempting to seize the moment and rehash all the arguments for why the euro will never work and cannot be saved. Read More
Growing anger in local government
So how well are Australian local government leaders really equipped to deal with population growth? Read More
Local councils deserve a better financial deal
Council rates surging to pay for new residents Read More
Council rates surging to pay for new residents
Local Government struggling to pay for new residents Read More
Tax changes are just a redistribution
The carbon pricing scheme was sold by the federal government as containing taxation reform measures, but once again we have lip service from politicians and tinkering at the edges Read More
Carbon tax could have united us all
More than 3 million households will be worse off come July, about a third of Australian taxpayers. Indeed, many thousands of individuals with incomes between $67,000 and $80,000 face the prospect of their... Read More
Perk Street is not as one-way as employed, childless renters think
Childless renters pay a lot of federal tax but are exempt from many state taxes Read More
Ditch deductions to lower the tax rates
Labor’s promised set deduction in taxes is not a productive fix for the system. Read More
Spending pledges need to be backed with hard evidence
The government has blown its last chance to have the sort of budget we should have got in 2008. Read More
Budget cuts can be popular
With an election still more than two years away the government should seize this opportunity to make the sort of cuts it should have made in 2008. Read More
Trimming to fit budget's reduced revenue
The expenditure review process leading up to the annual budget is rarely about making cuts to existing spending programs. It has more to do with trimming ministers' wish lists to fit the revenue forecast... Read More
Smokers already being ripped off -- plain packaging is just insulting
Smokers are being already being ripped off. The push for plain packaging is just insulting. Read More
We're all working for the man and it seems we have to do it for longer
Tax Freedom Day is later every year. Read More
Increasing Australia's GST would add little value
Those pushing for a higher rate of GST should be careful what they wish for they may get it, along with a lot of other things they didn't bargain for. Read More
New Zealand’s great regression
New Zealand was once a beacon to the Western world for classical liberal reform. No longer. Where did it all go wrong? Read More
Tax policy devised by party that is green with envy
Redistributing wealth rather than creating it seems to be the Greens' approach, says Robert Carling in The Australian, 3 September 2010. Read More
The Henry Report, state taxes and the Commonwealth-state divide
The Henry tax review could change Commonwealth/state fiscal relations. Read More
Tax reform should include cuts to marginal rates
Cutting personal income tax would help to expand the economy’s productive capacity. Read More
Property bias
Newspapers have a big heart for heavily indebted homeowners. Perhaps occasionally they should show equal compassion for tenants and savers. Read More
Capital gains tax won’t make housing more affordable
Many commentators think a CGT on owner-occupied housing is good economics, but bad politics. In reality, it is bad economics too. Read More
More houses, not taxes
Many commentators think a CGT on owner-occupied housing is good economics but bad politics. In reality, it is bad economics too. Read More
Taxation rhetoric and reality
Instead of adjusting LITO, the government should cut tax in a more meaningful way. Read More
The case for corporate tax reform
Australia’s corporate tax is said to be very successful, raising substantial revenue, and there has been little debate about it over the past few years. The most obvious starting point in any tax debate... Read More
The case for corporate tax reform
Australia’s corporate tax is said to be very successful, raising substantial revenue, and there has been little debate about it over the past few years. The most obvious starting point in any tax debate... Read More
Corporate tax needs attention now
Australia’s corporate tax regime is very successful at raising revenue and also at escaping any serious scrutiny. Serious debate about Australia’s corporate tax rate is long overdue, and the Ken Henry... Read More
Are tax cuts inflationary?
The latest excuse from the government for not giving us tax cuts (despite an $8 billion surplus) is the fear of inflation. But do tax cuts really cause inflation? Read More
Tax cuts can help fight inflation
Unlike previous elections, this year’s federal campaign is likely to see only cautious spending and tax cut promises from the major parties. Both worry that more spending or less taxing would be inflationary,... Read More
Politicians addicted to big spending
Tax revenue and government spending have grown even faster than the booming economy since the last major attempt at tax reform in 2000. That is a key message of figures recently released by the Australian... Read More
It's always a case of another year, another excuse for not slashing Australia's tax burden
There is a famous gag in Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip in which the very bossy Lucy Van Pelt persuades the perennial loser Charlie Brown to try to kick a football while she holds it in place but... Read More
No real value in tax changes
Real tax reform requires lower, fewer and flatter tax rates Read More
Budget should deliver us a break
Income tax reform should be tackled in the federal budget. Read More
Public purse is a burden we all carry
It doesn't have the significance of Anzac Day and you don't get a public holiday for it, but the day before Anzac Day is a special day in the 2007 calendar. Read More
Do tax cuts make a difference?
With a budget surplus of over $11 billion the government is fast running out of excuses not to cut tax. Read More
Who's paying all their tax?
Nobody likes paying tax, but for a large number of people it’s now an inconvenience they don’t have to bother with. Read More
Fiddle diddle no more, tax needs an overhaul
As budget day approaches, the Federal Government is coming under mounting pressure to reform our income tax system, but it shows little inclination to act. Read More
Treasurer has us on longer leash
Tax freedom day this year is April 25. This means it is a holiday for most Australians, for April 25 is also Anzac Day. Perhaps tax freedom day should be declared a holiday every year, for it is well worth... Read More
When is a welfare payment not a welfare payment?
Everyone who earns more than $6,000 per year pays income tax. The zero-rate or ‘tax-free’ threshold has for years been fixed at $6,000, which means workers have to pay tax long before they have earned... Read More
Councils must have real clout
Amid all the talk of tax cuts, Australians should gird themselves for hefty hikes in local taxes. Read More
Tax overhaul long due
Despite repeated attempts by the Government to ignore it, the clamour for tax reform just won't go away. Read More
Marginal Rate a Major Turn-Off
Over the past few years, a blizzard of argument and statistics has confronted the general public as Australia has wrestled with a major debate over taxation policy. Read More
Lower tax rates for a truly beautiful set of numbers
The changes announced by Treasurer Peter Costello to the personal income tax system last week are a small first step towards unravelling the disincentive effects that our tax system creates. Read More
Time we ran our own lives
The Friday before last was Tax Freedom Day -- the day of the year when we finish paying for the Government's spending and we start to work for ourselves. This year, Tax Freedom Day fell later than ever... Read More
Cut Taxes And Watch Economy Soar
The Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry , in a recent speech to Australian Business Economists , argued for higher levels of economic growth to meet our pressing demographic challenges. Read More
High Earners Count Cost Of Tax
Three months ago on these pages, Professor Sinclair Davidson of RMIT University revealed that the top quarter of income earners contribute 64 per cent of all income tax. Their share has increased from... Read More
Tax is the key to welfare reform
Tony Abbott wants to reform tax and welfare so that it pays to work. His recent speech did not go into detail, but he wants to replace the existing system of pensions and allowances for working-age adults... Read More
Threshold issues for a tax system that creates jobs
An important debate is taking place in Australia about the future of welfare, taxation and award wages. The outcome of this debate will influence the shape of social policy for years to come. Read More
Publications
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TARGET30: Reducing the burden for future generations
| 01 Jul 2013 | Policy ForumTARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government and cutting government spending to less than 30% of GDP in the next 10... Read More...
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TARGET30: Towards smaller government and future prosperity
| 06 Mar 2013 | TARGET30 Research PapersTARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government, supported by a series of research reports providing policy solutions... Read More...
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TARGET30 SNAPSHOT: Towards smaller government and future prosperity
| 06 Mar 2013 | TARGET30 SnapshotsTARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government, supported by a series of research reports providing policy solutions... Read More...
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Compulsory Super at 20: ‘Libertarian Paternalism’ Without the Libertarianism
| 25 Nov 2012 | Policy MonographsExamines the economic case for compulsory superannuation contributions and questions whether compulsory super is the most... Read More...
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The Condensed Wealth of Nations and The Incredibly Condensed Theory of Moral Sentiments
| 12 Jun 2012 | Occasional PapersIn The Condensed Wealth of Nations, Eamonn Butler condenses Adam Smith’s work and explains the key concepts in The Wealth... Read More...
Opinion & Commentary
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Why tax-free imports are a retail red herring
| 24 Jun 2013 | Business SpectatorRetailers would be better served lobbying government for policies other than raising inefficient taxes on low value imports.... Read More
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It’s time for surgery: the public purse is in dire health
| 26 Apr 2013 | The Australian Financial ReviewReducing inefficient spending may harm vested interests, but meaningful reform cannot occur if no one is ever allowed to ... Read More
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The magic pudding state
| 23 Apr 2013 | The DrumAustralians want government to spend more money on us, but we do not want to hand any more of our cash over to the tax office.... Read More
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Better ideas than raising super guarantee
| 28 Nov 2012 | Australian Financial ReviewIs compulsory super improving retirement incomes and reducing future demands on the budget from an ageing population?... Read More
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Fairness is not equality
| 26 Nov 2012 | Australian Financial ReviewIncome equality is not achievable, it is not desirable and it is not fair.... Read More
Ideas@TheCentre
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The elusive budget surplus
| 17 May 2013The idea that we will have a balanced budget by 2015-16 should be met with healthy scepticism....
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Tax rises are not savings
| 17 May 2013This budget is further evidence that governments remain addicted to spending, and that is why it is time for TARGET30....
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Fiscal fixes
| 03 May 2013Australia has a size-of-government problem rather than a revenue shortfall....
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What is a fair share?
| 15 Mar 2013 -
Mining tax as a federalism issue
| 01 Mar 2013The messy MRRT that we now have co-exists with state royalties which creates the undesirable possibility of ‘double taxation.’...
