Policy Monographs
Policy Monographs (PM) are pieces directly commenting on government policy, new programs or legislation.
Categories
The Government Giveth and the Government Taketh Away: Tax Welfare Churning and the Case for Welfare State Opt-Outs
Australians are more prosperous than ever before, so the number of people needing government assistance should be falling. Yet the welfare state keeps getting bigger. The book explores this paradox. It...... Read More
State Taxation and Fiscal Federalism: A Blueprint for Further Reform
This paper identifies major structural flaws in our current taxation system and develops a set of radical proposals to put them right. The flaws it identifies lie in the fiscal relation between the Commonwealth...... Read More
Should Australia and New Zealand Open Their Doors to Guest Workers From the Pacific? Costs and Benefits
Should Australia and New Zealand depart from their long term immigration policies to provide work places for short term seasonal guest workers from the Pacific. This monograph addresses the costs and benefits...... Read More
All the Water in the World
Roger Bate argues that water markets in which individuals (or corporations and municipalities) trade their entitlements to water, introduce flexibility, reduce waste, allow fairer distribution, more rational...... Read More
Reform 30/30: Rebuilding Australia’s Tax and Welfare Systems
John Humphreys has a vision of how the tax and welfare systems could be refashioned to break through the dispiriting problems that currently bedevil them. It is for those who reject this vision to put...... Read More
Are There Any Good Arguments Against Cutting Income Taxes?
Sinclair Davidson explains why, in a sharply ‘progressive’ tax system like ours, tax cuts that appear to favour high earners more than low earners are not only ‘fair’ but are to a large extent...... Read More
The Costs of Taxation
The question the government needs to ask is not whether it can do good through more spending, but is whether the relentless increase in the personal tax burden needed to finance all this spending is costing...... Read More
The Road to Work: Freeing Up the Labour Market
This monograph outlines a framework for a more flexible, deregulated labour market which could strengthen employment, raise living standards and promote workers' wellbeing.... Read More
How Highly Taxed Are We? The Level and Composition of Taxation in Australia and the OECD
Rather than establishing the case for even higher taxes on earnings, a careful analysis of OECD statistics shows what many Australian workers and businesses have long suspected; we are being squeezed much...... Read More
The Very Idea of a Flat Tax
Lauchlan Chipman questions a key principle that has long been embedded in our system of taxation and which most Australians probably accept as being self-evidently the ‘best’ and ‘fairest’ way...... Read More
Will You Still Vote for Me in the Morning? Why Politicians Aren’t Rushing to Increase Taxes
Norton’s review of the evidence does not indicate the existence of a population keen to pay more tax. The politicians know this, which is why the Coalition delivered limited tax cuts (as well as a lot...... Read More
Who Pays the Lion’s Share of Personal Income Tax?
Davidson’s paper performs a service by exposing the absurdities of some of the claims that are being made about who pays what. Higher income earners are paying much more than their ‘fair share’ in...... Read More
Tax Reform to Make Work Pay
We are paying more tax than ever before. Australia’s tax burden is higher than in the United States and Japan, taxes on incomes are as high as in many European countries, and corporate taxation is higher...... Read More
The Taxation of Shared Family Incomes
Terry Dwyer’s paper makes a compelling case for recognising family income sharing for tax purposes, and his arguments and proposals should be central to any future discussion of how to achieve a fairer...... Read More
The Tax Wilderness How to Restore the Rule of Law
The importance of Geoffrey Walker’s paper is that it shows the price we are paying as a nation for government’s failure to keep its tax demands within reasonable bounds. It is bad enough that escalating...... Read More
Schools in the Spotlight. School Performance Reporting and Public Accountability
Buckingham calls for a consistent, fair and meaningful system of reporting and publishing comparative school performance, making schools accountable not only to government, but also to the public who pays...... Read More
Divorce Law and the Future of Marriage
No-fault divorce law has precipitated marital instability in Australia, discouraging people from marrying, staying together, acting to support their spouses and having children. According to respected...... Read More
Poverty in Australia: Beyond the Rhetoric
This report challenges prevailing definitions and measurements of poverty, and calls for an alternative strategy for poverty alleviation based on American-style welfare reform, lower taxation and job creation.... Read More
The Unchained University
Australia's universities are not preparing students adequately for their futures. Report author and higher education expert Andrew Norton argues that universities are failing students in several ways.... Read More
Sustainable Immigration and Cultural Integration
Professor Kasper outlines the benefits of past migration. He points out that Australians can be justifiably proud of the successful integration of so many migrants into a decent society, a stable, free...... Read More
