In November 2019, the Centre for International Economics prepared a report for the Public Interest Journalism Initiative looking at the idea of a tax concession for public interest journalism. This idea is similar to a policy adopted in Canada, whereby eligible journalism providers receive a tax concession (potentially in the form of a cash refund) for a proportion (25 per cent in the case of Canada) of eligible expenditure on public interest journalism (in the Canadian case, this is expenditure on wages and salaries for journalists).

A policy such as this is justified if the value to the community (the community ‘willingness to pay’) for increased public interest journalism exceeds the cost of providing the tax concession (where this cost also includes administrative and compliance costs). The public's willingness to pay has been surveyed by Essential Media for the Public Interest Journalism Initiative at four points: October 2019, April 2020, October 2020, and February 2024.

This report uses February 2024 survey data to provide updated estimates of willingness to pay, as well as updated estimates of the benefits and costs of a tax concession scheme.