Greg Jericho is a Walkley Award winning columnist, known for his regular columns for Guardian Australia and social media presence as Grogs Gamut. He is the Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.
One of the biggest myths perpetrated by conservatives is that Australia is a high-taxing nation, and that Australian workers are taxed more than other nations. The 2026 OECD Taxing Wages Report reveals that this is simply not true. Rather, the problem is that the government raises too little in other taxes.
The Australian Financial Review (AFR) has this week unintentionally revealed that its scare campaign over the Albanese government’s proposed changes to the taxation of superannuation balances above $3m was completely confected, and it should serve as a lesson for the government and all Australians not to be fooled when the powerful try to scare us.
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The middle of April each year is always when the pre-Budget noise grows louder, and the Government begins to frame the narrative. This year, the stakes are as high as any budget in recent memory. The United States’ and Israel’s attacks on Iran, and the subsequent closing of the Strait of Hormuz, have very much highlighted to Australians just who benefits from an international oil crisis. While Australians saw their petrol prices rise, and worries about a recession permeated, one industry was laughing.
The unemployment rate remained steady in March at 4.3%, as the impact of both the Iran War and interest rate rises have yet to register in official figures. Economic data is mostly looking at things that happened in the past, but in times when shocks have occurred (such as the Iran War), data can seem even more out of date than usual.
BP have correctly uncovered that a tax on gas exports would raise more revenue than the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). However, some of their other claims in their submission to the Senate Select Committee on the Taxation of Gas Resources were misleading...
One of the more repeated claims since the announcement that the government would be halving the fuel excise for 3 months is that doing so will be inflationary.
On the back of polling showing strong support for tax concession reductions for property investors, independent member for Mackellar, Dr Sophie Scamps has voiced her support for the government to make changes in the upcoming federal budget to make housing fairer.
Shadow Treasury spokesperson, Tim Wilson, was on Triple J’s Hack yesterday and he made some interesting statements and claims about gas tax. To set the record straight: royalties are not tax, Australia does not have a gas shortage, and beer drinkers do pay more, than gas companies pay the PRRT.
In life it is nice to have things you can count on, and every time this year you can absolutely be guaranteed to hear business groups and their friendly economists screaming in fear that the ACTU and the Labor Government’s recommendation for an increase in the minimum wage will cause a recession.
The oil crisis has not only caused petrol prices to soar, it has revealed just how little competition there is among the big oil companies. A couple weeks ago the ACCC announced that it would be looking into uncompetitive behaviour by petrol companies in the rural areas.
