Patrick Commins

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

Treasury says taxing actual instead of unrealised gains would have meant millions of super fund members were hit with “significant” compliance costs as part of a policy aimed at trimming concessions for just 80,000 of the country’s wealthiest savers. Labor’s proposal will put an extra 15% tax on earnings generated from super balances over $3m in an effort to make the super system more equitable and sustainable.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

Economists say the tobacco excise rate is too high, is not lowering smoking rates and should be frozen or even “radically” reduced as a way to address the soaring black market trade in cigarettes. It comes ahead of a meeting of state and federal health ministers on Friday and after the NSW premier, Chris Minns, last week demanded the Albanese government cut the excise rate to combat an explosion in black market tobacco and an associated rise in organised crime.

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

Imagine you have $3m in super and have just retired, only to hear that Labor plans to hit you with a new tax. Or perhaps you’re worried (dream?) that at some point in the near or distant future you might cross that multi-million-dollar savings threshold. Either way, you might be wondering whether the government’s proposal to whack an extra 15% tax on earnings on balances over $3m is going to put a major crimp in your retirement plans.

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins |Anne Davies |Benita Kolovos

Jim Chalmers says making cigarettes cheaper will not solve the booming trade in illegal tobacco, dismissing the call by the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, to slash taxes on smoking. Minns joined Victoria’s state government in blaming the high tobacco excise for a spike in organised crime that has led to arson attacks on businesses and stretched police resources.

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Patrick Commins

The Australian economy has had an underwhelming start to the year, with growth of just 0.2% in the first three months of 2025 compared to 0.6% in the previous quarter. Annual growth was steady at 1.3%, the new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed. Katherine Keenan, the ABS’s head of national accounts, described the latest data as “soft”. “Public spending recorded the largest detraction from growth since the September quarter 2017,” Keenan said.