The Australian Government proposes to reduce the company tax rate from 30 to 25 per cent. However, there are widespread concerns that the fiscal cost is not affordable. This paper considers alternative reforms of corporate taxation that could fund a corporate tax rate cut. We address key...

Australian law provides an exemption from tax for benefits paid to dependants on the death of a member of a superannuation fund. The federal government recently amended the law to recognise people in an 'interdependency relationship' as dependants for the purpose of this exemption. In contrast...

Tax reform is deeply political. There is now a significant body of political and economic research by political scientists and sociologists, concerning fiscal politics or sociology, in particular addressing taxation in democracies. At the same time, we take for granted, nowadays, that the...

Australia's retirement income system combines private and public provision for old age. Retirees rely on private (but highly regulated) superannuation saving that attracts large tax concessions; a public, means-tested age pension; home ownership; and other private savings. Despite recent changes...

In 2015, Australia's Commonwealth income tax reached its first century. The Income Tax Assessment Act No. 34 of 1915 and accompanying Income Tax Act No. 41 of 1915 were assented to on 13 September 1915, enacted “by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives...

This paper discusses the tax and transfer treatment of private superannuation retirement saving and the public means tested age pension in Australia. Superannuation savings benefit from concessional treatment in Australia's tax system by comparison with other forms of saving, measured against an...

Nation states in the Asia Pacific need to increase tax revenues but face many challenges. This article discusses the challenge of taxation in an age of capital mobility and tax competition. It then considers two opportunities that have recently been championed by the G20, which could enable...

The topic of redistribution between rich and poor countries opens a can of worms. This paper first inquires into what we mean by some of these words and second, considers the role of taxation in redistribution. It briefly considers the various modes of redistribution to address poverty and...