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3 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Saul Eslake |Hal Pawson
Extra revenue from winding back currently available tax breaks should be designated for social housing investment and increased Rent Assistance -a housing policy virtuous circle. For all readers aware that our flagging housing system cannot be fixed without decisive policy change, the avalanche of support for the possible reform of private landlord tax concessions this past week is something to celebrate.
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4 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Saul Eslake
Treasurer Jim Chalmers pulled one unexpected rabbit out of his hat in Tuesday’s 2025-26 federal budget.
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1 month ago | 
insidestory.org.au | Saul Eslake
Treasurer Jim Chalmers pulled one unexpected rabbit out of his hat in last night’s budget — a one percentage point cut in the bottom marginal tax rate, from 16 per cent to 15 per cent from 1 July next year, and a further one point cut to 14 per cent from 1 July 2027.
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1 month ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Saul Eslake
The Commonwealth Grants Commission’s annual updates of its recommendations as to how the revenue from the GST should be carved up among the states and territories almost always contain a few surprises – pleasant for some, and unpleasant for others, since carving up a pie is, by definition, a “zero sum game”.
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1 month ago | 
afr.com | Saul Eslake
The Commonwealth Grants Commission’s 2025-26 update of its recommendations on how revenue from the GST should be carved up contained a few more surprises than usual because it incorporated the results of the review of its methodology, which it does every five years.
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2 months ago | 
thenewdaily.com.au | Saul Eslake
I don’t suffer from what some of President Donald Trump’s more fervent supporters — both in the US and in Australia — like to call “Trump derangement syndrome”. That is, I’m not disputing that he won last November’s US presidential election “fair and square”, as did the Republican Party in both the House and the Senate, and that together they have a mandate to implement the policies that they presented to the American people during the campaign that preceded those elections.
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2 months ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Saul Eslake
Well, they did it! The Reserve Bank of Australia Board decided, at its meeting conducted over the past two days, to cut its official cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.10%, after having held it at 4.35% since November 2023, and having raised it by 425 basis points over the preceding 18 months. Today’s move was almost universally anticipated by financial markets, and by most economists (although both had moved all over the shop during 2024).
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2 months ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Saul Eslake
I am not suffering from what some of President Donald Trump’s more fervent supporters — both in the US and in Australia — like to call “Trump derangement syndrome”. That is, I’m not disputing that he won the presidential election held last November “fair and square”, as did the Republican Party in both the House and the Senate, and that together they have a mandate to implement the policies which they presented to the American people during the campaign which preceded those elections.
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2 months ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Saul Eslake
State and federal oppositions will draw encouragement from the byelection result. But neither has shown voters a coherent and credible budget and economic strategy. Voters in the by-elections held in the Victorian state seats of Werribee (previously held by former Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas) and Prahran (previously held by the Greens) appear to have sent two distinct messages to Victoria’s — and perhaps to Australia’s — major political parties.
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2 months ago | 
afr.com | Saul Eslake
Voters in the Victorian byelections held in the seats of Werribee (previously held by former state treasurer Tim Pallas) and Prahran (previously held by the Greens) appear to have sent two distinct messages to Victoria’s – and perhaps to Australia’s – major political parties. First, and most clearly, voters are angry at the management of Victoria’s public finances by the Labor governments led by Dan Andrews and, more recently, Jacinta Allan. Loading...
