Personal income

- eg, personal income tax scale and offsets

- see also Capital gains; Concessions; Corporations; Families; Fringe benefits; International transactions; Older people;
  Workers

ACOSS Response to NewStart Bill 2013
Australian Council of Social Service (July 2013).  The Bill amends the Social Security Act 1991 as follows to implement policies announced as part of the 2013-14 Budget: - An increase of the income free area that applies for recipients of Newstart Allowance, Widow Allowance, Partner Allowance, Parenting Payment (Partnered) and Sickness Allowance. The income free area would increase from $62 to $100 per fortnight, from 20 March 2014, and would be subject to annual indexation. - Extension of the eligibility for the Pensioner Education Supplement to single principal carer parents receiving Newstart Allowance Payments, from 1 January 2014. - A 12 week extension of eligibility for the Pensioner Concession Card to single parents who are no longer qualified for Parenting Payment Single because their youngest child has turned 8 years of age, and who do not qualify for another income support payment due to earnings. This measure would commence on 1 January 2014.

What The Rich Would Do To Avoid Tax
Dr Richard Denniss, The Australia Institute (July 2013).  Is economics a science? When we teach economics students, we usually tell them that they are learning about 'the science of the efficient allocation of scarce resources'. But when we listen to public debate, often economists don't sound very scientific. While it is often said that science can't proceed without failure, it's rare to hear an economist admit that they were wrong

Capital is Back: Wealth-Income Ratios in Rich Countries 1700-2010
Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman, Paris School of Economics (July 2013).  This paper explores how aggregate wealth-to-income ratios evolve and why. The results have important implications for capital taxation and regulation and shed new light on the changing nature of wealth; the shape of the production function, and the rise of capital shares.

Executive-Pay Tax Break Saved Fortune 500 Corporations $27 Billion Over the Past Three Years
Citizens for Tax Justice (April 2013).  Earlier this year, Citizens for Tax Justice reported that Facebook Inc. had used a single tax break, for executive stock options, to avoid paying even a dime of federal and state income taxes in 2012. Since then, CTJ has investigated the extent to which other large companies are using the same tax break. This short report presents data for 280 Fortune 500 corporations that, like Facebook, disclose a portion of the tax benefits they receive from this tax break.

Top Individual Income Tax Rates: How Does the U.S. Compare?
Jim Nunns (April 2013).  Discussions of the effect of taxes on international competitiveness usually focus on corporate income tax rates, but individual income tax rates may also affect a country’s (or state’s) ability to compete for workers.

OECD Taxation Working Papers No. 15: Average Personal Income Tax Rate and Tax Wedge Progression in OECD Countries
Dominique Paturot, Kirsti Mellbye and Bert Brys, OECD, (2013). 

ACTU Wages Report
Australian Council of Trade Unions (2012). 

Preparing for a Better Future
Business Council of Australia (October 2011).  The Business Council of Australia puts forward its proposals for changes to the tax system, including changes to the personal and company tax systems.

Paying Our Way: Personal Income Tax in Australia
ACTU (October 2011).  This paper by the ACTU looks at how changes in personal income tax rates have flattened the gradient of the progressive tax system.

Fair Share: The Tax Edition
VCOSS (September 2011).  Outlines how tax can change the way disadvantage is caused and addressed, and what changes VCOSS hopes for in the National Tax Forum.

Mission Australia Statement of Reform Priorities
Mission Australia's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Council of the Aging Statement of Reform Priorities
Ian Yates (September 2011).  Council of The Aging (COTA) statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Catholic Social Services Australia Statement of Reform Priorities
Bishop Pat Power (September 2011).  Catholic Social Services Australia's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Equal Rights Alliance Statement of Reform Priorities
Marie Coleman and Ruth Medd (September 2011).  Equality Rights Alliance's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Anglicare Australia Statement of Reform Priorities
Kasy Chambers (September 2011).  Anglicare Australia's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Jobs Australia's Statement of Reform Priorities
David Thompson (September 2011).  Jobs Australia's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

United Voice Statement of Reform Priorities
Louise Tarrant (September 2011).  United Voice's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Community and Public Sector Union Statement of Reform Priorities
Nadine Flood (September 2011).  Community and Public Sector Union's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Community Housing Federation of Australia
Adam Farrar (September 2011).  Australian Community Housing Federation of Australia's statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

National Shelter Statement of Reform Priorities
Adrian Pisarski (September 2011).  National Shelters' statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Uniting Care Wesley Adelaide Statement of Reform Priorities
Simon Schrapel (September 2011).  Uniting Care Wesley Adelaide statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Australian Council of Trade Unions Statement of Reform Priorities
Jeff Lawrence (September 2011).  Australian Council of Trade Unions' statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Australian Council of Social Services Statement of Reform Priorities
Dr Cassandra Goldie and Peter Davidson (September 2011).  Australian Council of Social Services statement of taxation reform priorities in preparation to the Tax Forum 4-5 October 2011.

Per Capita Tax Survey for 2011: Public Attitudes towards Taxation and Government Expenditure
David Hetherington (September 2011).  The Per Capita Tax Survey for 2011 has asked 1,300 Australians for their views on personal tax contributions, overall taxation levels, public service spending and new tax proposals such as the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and the carbon tax.

Australian Attitudes Towards Wealth Inequality and Progressive Taxation
David Neal, Cassandra Govan, Mike Norton & Dan Ariely (31 August 2011).  A national survey conducted by Empirica Research and the Harvard Business School of Australian knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of wealth inequality and progressive taxation.

National Tax Forum discussion paper
Australian Government (28 July 2011).  Discussion paper released by the Australian Government in the leadup to the National Tax Forum in October 2011, particularly dealing with the six sessions to be included at the forum: Personal tax, transfer payments, business tax, state taxes, environmental and social taxes, and tax system governance.

Taxation trends in the European Union
Eurostat (1 July 2011).  An overview of taxation in the European Union, by type of tax (consumption, labour income, company income and capital income), by level of government (federal, state, local), and by country.

The Very Rich and the Tax Code (USA)
Roberton Williams, Tax Policy Centre (19 May 2011).  Roberton Williams, Senior Fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, talks about the historically low tax rates currently paid by the richest U.S. taxpayers, why taxing the rich by itself won’t bridge the budget gap, and why raising taxes on capital gains is a complicated policy option.

Taxing Wages
OECD (11 May 2011).  Taxing Wages provides unique information on income tax paid by workers and social security contributions levied on employees and their employers in OECD countries. This year's report found that the average tax and social security burdens on employment incomes rose in most countries in 2010, reversing a trend toward declining tax burdens seen in previous years. In most cases, though, any rise reported was small.

Tax cuts: who needs them?
Robert Tanton, Australian Policy Online (10 Apr 2011).  Commentary on the proposal to increase the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $10,000, finding that the main beneficiaries of tax cuts are those who don’t really need the additional money.

Summary of ACOSS proposals, Henry Review recommendations
Australian Council of Social Service (5 Apr 2011).  This is a brief summary of the Henry Review’s key tax reform proposals and compares them with those advanced by ACOSS, and the Government’s response.

Tax reform and low incomes
Grant Belchamber, ACTU (30 Mar 2011).  A presentation to the ACOSS National Conference on reform to the taxes and transfers systems, particularly focusing on tax rates and tax thresholds for people on low-incomes. Includes an analysis of the Henry Review proposal for personal income tax.

Cutting Tax Preferences Is Key to Tax Reform and Deficit Reduction
Donald Marron, Tax Policy Centre (Feb 2011).  Donald Marron's testimony before the Senate Committee on the Budget on reforming the tax code by cutting tax preferences. His testimony includes: how tax preferences pervade the US tax code, how the first step in any income tax reform should be to broaden the tax base by reducing or eliminating tax preferences and how policymakers can then use the resulting revenue to lower tax rates, reduce future deficits, or both.

Progressive Tax Reform: Reform of the Personal Income Tax System
Australian Council of Social Service (November 2009).  This report advocates strengthening the personal income tax system in order to achieve progressive tax reform. It covers topics such as personal income tax rates, consumption taxes, company income taxes, taxation and saving, taxation and the transfer system.

Reforming Australia's Hidden Welfare State: Tax Expenditures as Welfare for the Rich
Dr Benjamin Spies-Butcher and Adam Stebbing, Centre for Policy Development, (February 2009).  Discusses problems with Commonwealth tax expenditures and outlines possible reforms to superannuation that could enhance fairness and transparency in government spending.

Tax Cuts Favour the Rich
The Australia Institute (1 July 2009).  Media statement that discusses how the July 2009 tax cuts are highly skewed towards the rich.

'The Missing Billions: The UK Tax Gap
Trade Union Congress (29 February 2008).  A report that calculates the tax lost to the UK Government from tax avoidance and from tax planning by the very wealthy.