This article explores the arguments for and against the use of government debt to finance large-scale public investments. Relative to the options of higher taxation or lower other expenditures, debt finance means that both the costs and the benefits of the investment fall on future generations....

Stamp duty is a core part of the Australian tax system, but large components of its effect on the economy are unknown. In particular, the distribution of stamp duty's costs are not well understood. This has been hampered by a lack of quantitative studies of stamp duty's costs, and by limited...