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).

This paper investigates how the tax-transfer system replaces lost income after job loss. It uses e61’s tax calculator to estimate the lost income replaced by benefit payments and lower taxes paid following job loss (the income replacement rate). The paper also explores what will happen to replacement rates if payment rates were changed.

The calculator is an interactive tool for calculating taxes paid, transfer (welfare) payments received, and the effective average and marginal tax rates for working-aged Australians (aged 22 to 54). This note provides some basic information on what the calculator is and how it can be used. Taxes and transfers influence workforce participation by creating varied...

Individual income taxes in Australia raise nearly half of federal government revenue. This note offers a new perspective on the efficiency and equity implications of the individual income tax system. The findings paint two starkly different pictures of horizontal and vertical equity in effective tax rates at high and low levels of income.

This paper argues election promises of cuts to income tax rarely offer meaningful tax reform and are usually quickly reversed by bracket creep. Pledges made ahead of the 2025 federal election should not be seen as structural tax reform propositions and highlight the need for real tax reform in the form of indexation of tax...