This paper argues Australia needs to update our regulatory approach and change our inefficient company tax system, to a system that better encourages investment and productivity growth. This final inquiry report presents recommendations focused on two key policy reform areas: corporate tax reform to spur business investment and regulating to promote business dynamism.

The Australian Government has accepted that gas exports are causing supply shortages and raising energy prices for Australians. This paper examines two policy options reportedly considered by the Government that would favour rival gas companies, and that may or may not be effective in reducing gas prices for some users.

Horizontal fiscal equalisation has been a core concept for Australia in one form or another since Federation. This occasional paper explores whether the GST distribution system is too complex. It finds there is a trade-off between assessing states’ relative fiscal capacities as comprehensively as possible and simplifying assessment methods.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a major feature of the tax system in Australia. Australia’s GST is narrow, with around half of spending untaxed. This paper explores the horizontal equity consequences of these exclusions and discusses the winners and losers from expanding GST to tax all consumption items (broadening the base).

The paper critically examines the Productivity Commission’s proposal to introduce a corporate cashflow tax as part of a broader reform of company taxation. The analysis demonstrates that the supporting economic modelling assumes rents can be precisely identified, and that capital is perfectly mobile – assumptions that do not hold in the real economy.