Publications
Here you can find articles or essays which I have written and which have been published elsewhere
Op-ed article on proposed changes to GST revenue-sharing arrangements
Publications | 16th August 2016Saul Eslake | Mercury | 16th August 2016 Opinion Talking Point: WA wasted all its boomtime revenue and now it wants more WHILE it is true, as West Australians keep saying, their share of total GST revenue has been unprecedently low in recent years, relative to their share of the population, there is a good reason for […]
The Australian resources boom and its aftermath – Review of ‘Balancing Act’ by George Megalogenis
Economic Policies, Publications, The Australian Economy | 15th June 2016Saul Eslake | Quarterly Essay | Issue No 16 2016 In reply to George Megalogenis’s Quarterly Essay, Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal. George Megalogenis writes about today’s economy with a grasp of the broad sweep of Australian history and an awareness of the social consequences of economic performance and policy – attributes which have been […]
The case for reducing the capital gain tax discount
Housing, Publications, Taxation | 7th June 2016Article originally published in ‘Around the House’, the newsletter of Shelter NSW, a housing advocacy group, in June 2016
Lower inflation targets aren’t a good idea
Economic Policies, Publications | 17th May 2016Article published on The Conversation website, 17th May 2016
The housing affordability trap • Inside Story
Housing, Publications | 12th May 2016Saul Eslake | Inside Story | 12th May 2016 Falling home ownership rates are bad for households and bad for the economy, writes Saul Eslake. Governments are starting to respond, but much more can be done“A home of one’s own” – often described as the Great Australian Dream – is not a uniquely Australian aspiration, but for […]
Reflections on the 2016-17 Federal Budget
Economic Policies, Publications | 5th May 2016Saul Eslake | The Conversation | 5th May 2016 This is a longer version of Saul Eslake’s take on the budget, on why negative gearing is still the elephant in the room for the government.Scott Morrison is very keen for his first budget to be viewed as “not just another budget” – to the point of […]
Negative gearing simply a form of ‘tax avoidance’
Housing, Publications, Taxation | 31st March 2016Saul Eslake | The New Daily | 23rd March 2016 In a recent interview with the ABC’s Leigh Sales, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull defended negative gearing as “income tax 101”, by which he went on to explain as “a fundamental principle of tax law and has been forever that you can deduct from your income the […]
Labor’s negative gearing aims echo Coalition housing changes
Housing, Publications, Taxation | 23rd March 2016Saul Eslake | The New Daily | 23rd March 2016 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been vocal in decrying the Labor Opposition’s plans to restrict negative gearing to investors buying new properties, claiming it will lead to a crash in the price of existing housing. But the evidence is against this hypothesis. Over the last five […]