Company tax cuts are not a knight in shining armour to save the Australian economy

John Daley and Brendan Coates of the Grattan Institute (writing in The Conversation) demonstrate that the Government's signature company tax reduction policy reduces Australia's income over the short term, has a very small (almost negligible) positive impact over 25 years, and that foreigners are the overwhelming beneficiaries of the policy at the expense of Australians. None of this should be a surprise to anyone who understands how Australia's company tax system works—clearly the Government doesn't, otherwise it would have realised there are much more important reforms to focus on.

Good reform of housing taxation should encapsulate the full spectrum of housing market distortions

Danika Wright (University of Sydney) provides an excellent overview of negative gearing in The Conversation and argues that it should not be analysed in isolation from capital gains and other special treatments of housing, such as stamp duty, land taxes and first-home-buyer exemptions.

The way Australia taxes housing is manifestly unfair

Anthony Asher (University of NSW) describes in The Conversation the incoherent application of principles to housing provision and taxation in Australia.

Conditions in offshore detention centres are inhumane, degrading and pose life-threatening risks

Karen Zwi (University of NSW) and Nicholas Talley (University of Newcastle) explain in The Conversation the health ramifications of Australia's refugee policy and the disturbing litany of delays, poor judgement, ill-informed decisions and above all, the serious consequences of a detention system that neglects warnings and fails to heed clinical advice.

Company tax cut only advantages foreign investors!

Janine Dixon (Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University) writes in The Conversation that it’s easy to see why a company tax cut polarises opinion, as it generates clear winners and losers. Foreign investors will receive a windfall gain at the expense of Australian residents.

Editor's note: Finally, an economic modeller who understands how Australia's company tax system works! My only quibble is the analysis seems to ignore the effect of company tax on retained earnings and also double taxation agreements. Retained earnings complicate the imputation credit story. DTAs work a little bit like the imputation system, so foreign investors from most countries who pay their taxes will likely be worse off, similar to Australian investors. Foreign investors who avoid paying taxes through sophisticated offshore arrangements are the big winners from a company tax cut.

Welfare reform needs to be about improving well-being, not punishing the poor

Peter Whiteford (Australian National University) writes in The Conversation that some of the improvement in workforce participation may have been due to the impact of the benefit activation reforms, but it was also due to Australia’s experience of uninterrupted economic growth. And that is a prerequisite for successful activation strategies.

Budget explainer: the problem with measuring productivity

Gerard de Valence (University of Technology Sydney) explains in The Conversation that Government policies can support improved productivity, if they are well designed and implemented. However, many current policy settings were put in place when we had an industrial economy and are not really suited to the emerging post-industrial economy of the 21st century.