Tonight’s federal budget is make or break for the Gillard/Swan government. They are close to written-off, but not quite. Ten years ago John Howard seemed headed for certain defeat, but dramatically changed direction during the Ryan by-election, taking a tax off beer and indexation off fuel excise. At the time the pundits criticised him for […]

With her rebadged Resource Super Profits Tax Julia Gillard confirms she has no vision for Australia and that big business cannot and should not be relied upon to look after the common interest. It is a pea and thimble trick that appears to have fooled the mining companies, but should fool no-one else. The original […]

Writing in the BRW, Phil Ruthven puts the lie to the, well lie, that the mining industry is earning super profits.

What we normally call “rent”, and what economists mean by “rent” when they talk about rental taxes, are two different things, but there are lessons for resource rental taxes that can be drawn from the everyday experience of renting.