There is a perception that individuals who earn capital income pay much lower tax rates than wage and salary earners. This note explains the complexity of capital taxation using examples from a new online tax calculator. It shows three illustrative situations in which capital income can be either under- or over-taxed relative to labour income.

This summary is based on the results in the OECD Taxing wages 2026 report. It focuses on two of the eight household types examined in the report. The summary presents effective tax rates on labour in Australia and compares these with rates in other OECD member countries.

War in Iran and the resulting impacts on energy markets have intensified debate about Australia’s gas exports. While Australian debate on taxation of gas features regular international comparisons, a comparison with Japan itself is rarely made. This report aims to fill this gap with a basic introduction to Japan’s Petroleum and Coal Tax.

The scorecard assesses and ranks the performance of each Australian state across ten economic indicators: annual growth in per capita gross state product, annual wage growth, jobs growth, retail turnover, tax burden, debt burden, productivity growth, business investment, rental affordability and energy affordability. Western Australia is the best performing state and New South Wales the...

By identifying the forces that have repeatedly undermined tax reform in Australia, this report explores whether a different approach could help Australia move beyond repeated false starts and build a more credible pathway for future change. It finds that reform failure over the last 25 years is rarely attributable to a single factor.