TAXATION – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Albanese’s team mulls Coalition’s full tax cut agenda

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Original article by Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: Online : 4-Jun-19

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has indicated that Labor would be open to briefly reconvening parliament in June to pass the first stage of the Coalition’s proposed income tax cuts. He adds that Labor will consider the second and third stages on their merits. Labor is unlikely to decide whether to support the full package at its first post-election shadow cabinet meeting on 4 June. Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says Labor will review its tax policies in the wake of the election loss, but notes that a range of tax concessions cost a lot of money that could be better used elsewhere.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Promised cuts ‘don’t have to wait for parliament’

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Original article by Richard Ferguson, Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 7 : 22-May-19

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the proposed increase in the low and middle-income tax offset will be the Coalition’s top priority when parliament resumes. He has conceded that parliament is unlikely to be reconvened before 30 June to allow the tax cuts to be passed before the start of the new financial year. A spokesman for the Australian Taxation Office has advised that the changes to the tax offset can be applied retrospectively if the legislation is passed after 1 July.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Income tax cuts, bigger surpluses

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 10-May-19

Labor will release the Parliamentary Budget Office’s costings of its election policies on 10 May. The costings show that Labor is projected to deliver a Budget surplus equivalent to one per cent of GDP in 2022-23. In contrast, the Coalition expects to post a surplus in 2022-23 that is just 0.4 per cent of GDP. Meanwhile, Labor’s proposed tax reforms are slated to raise $154bn over 10 years. The costings also show that a Labor government would deliver total tax cuts over the next decade that are similar to those that have been budgeted by the Coalition.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Morrison: Business tax cuts are no-go

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Original article by Tom McIlroy, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 10-May-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refuted suggestions that the Coalition will seek to revive its corporate tax cuts package if wins the election on 18 May. He also says the Coalition did not discuss the issue of company taxes with Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party during negotiations for a preferences deal. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen recently claimed that company tax cuts will be on the Coalition’s agenda if it is returned to office.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Morrison and Shorten, take note: Trump shows what enterprising tax settings can do for jobs

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 33 : 7-May-19

Between 2019 and 2025, the cumulative tax bill of people earning more than $200,000 a year will be more than $33,000 higher under Labor than the Coalition, according to a tax calculator on Self-Employed Australia’s website. Low-income earners who receive $15,000 worth of franking credits each year would also be worse off under Labor. The tax policies of Australia’s major political parties are in contrast to the personal and company tax cuts of US President Donald Trump. Some 263,000 jobs were created in the US in April and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since December 1969, while there has been average hourly earnings growth of 3.2 per cent over the last year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, SELF-EMPLOYED AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Senators reject ALP tax grab

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Original article by Simon Benson, Michael McKenna, Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-May-19

Key upper house crossbenchers have rejected claims by shadow treasurer Chris Bowen that Labor will have a mandate for tax reform if it wins the federal election. Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff contends that Labor will only have a mandate if it gains a majority in the Senate. Griff opposes Labor’s proposal to abolish cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits, although he says Centre Alliance may be willing to negotiate regarding changes to the negative gearing regime. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson also opposes the franking credit reforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE, ONE NATION PARTY, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVES

Coalition faces hostile Senate if it wins

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 2-May-19

A re-elected Coalition government could require the support of the Greens to pass legislation in the Senate, depending on the number of crossbenchers in the upper house from 1 July. Its income tax cuts in particular would be in doubt, given the Greens’ opposition to the package. The government proposes to reconvene parliament before 30 June to capitalise on a crossbench that is likely to be more favourable to its tax cuts than the new Senate. Greens leader Richard Di Natale favours tax increases rather than tax cuts.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED

Top end of town pays $57bn tax

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 24-Apr-19

Data from the Australian Taxation Office shows that nearly 430,000 people had taxable income of at least $180,000 in fiscal 2017, an increase of 26 per cent since fiscal 2013. The total net tax they paid increased from $43 billion to $57bn. There was also a 17 per cent increase in the number of people with taxable income of $37,000 to $80,000, with their share of the total tax take rising from $47bn to $62bn. Tax cuts have been a key focus of the election campaign, but economics professor Richard Holden says a simpler option is to peg the tax system to wage inflation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Labor taxes could hinder economy

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 16-Apr-19

The consensus among economists would seem to be that the Coalition’s tax policies will be better for the economy over the medium- to long-term than those of Labor. However, Labor’s short-term tax cuts for low-income earners could provide a stimulus for the economy at a time when it appears to be slowing. AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver says the impact of Labor’s tax policies will depend on what it does with the extra revenue that it raises.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Tax cut plan needs $40b off spending

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Original article by John Kehoe, Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 16-Apr-19

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is confident that the Coalition can reduce government spending to about 23.6 per cent of GDP over the next decade, as outlined in the April 2019 Budget. Danielle Wood of the Grattan Institute warns that this would require spending to be cut by $40bn a year in order to finance tax cuts and retain a surplus. Meanwhile, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has described the second and third stages of the government’s tax cuts package as "utterly unsustainable, unaffordable and irresponsible". Labor supports the first stage of the tax cuts, and Bowen says further cuts will be considered in the context of each Budget.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY