The Treasurer, Chris Bowen, has defended today’s interest rate decision by the Reserve Bank, whilst the shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, says the economy is weakening.
At a press conference following the Bank’s decision to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.5%, Bowen said lower interest rates contributed to lower living costs for Australians, particularly in housing. [Read more…]
After labouring for months, the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee has brought forth a tax and welfare package as much as an environmental policy.
With significant implications for the welfare sector, and tax cuts for everyone earning up to $80,000 a year, in the short term the carbon tax may not be the most important effect of the government’s plan.
The government says around 60% of taxpayers will get a tax cut of at least $300 from July next year, and no one will pay more tax. In 2015-16, further tax cuts come into effect.
The tax free threshold will be raised to $18,200. Treasurer Wayne Swan says up to a million extra Australians will be freed from having to lodge a tax return from next financial year. Many low-income earners who have to deal with the Taxation Office and Centrelink will find they only have to deal with Centrelink. Like the general tax cuts, the tax free threshold will increase again to $19,400 in 2015 when the fixed price on carbon is replaced by the emissions trading scheme. [Read more…]
The Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, has addressed the National Press Club, in Canberra.
An affable, confident and articulate Henry delivered a speech on taxation and then took questions on allegations from the Liberal Party that he has conspired with the Federal government to manipulate the economic growth forecasts.
The speech introduced Jim from Jericho, an Australian equivalent of Joe the Plumber, who gave Henry a lesson on the taxation of fencing wire.
Text of Ken Henry’s prepared speech:
Towards a tax and transfer system of human scale
1. My working holiday
As people all around the world quickly learned – such is the reach of the electronic media these days – I spent July with my wife, Naomi, in the Epping Forest Scientific National Park in central Queensland, helping look after what may be the last 115 northern hairy nosed wombats left on the planet.
The care of our native wildlife is one of my passions. Another is tax policy. That, too, has occupied a fair bit of my time this year as we have been undertaking one of the most fundamental tax reviews ever attempted in this country.
Spending time on one’s passions would normally be considered a good thing. In some respects, then, this has been a good year. [Read more…]
On the first full day of the 2007 election campaign, the coalition has announced a tax package offering income tax reductions across the board.
A re-elected coalition government is proposing to reduce the number of tax brackets to four over a five-year period: 15, 30, 35 and 40 cents in the dollar. It proposes raising the tax-free threshold to $14,000 next year.
The tax cuts are worth more than $34 billion.
The aim of the restructure is to arrive at a tax-free threshold of $20,000 with the top marginal rate set at 40 cents. [Read more…]