Comments on: Thoughts of a couple of suspects

By: Club Troppo » The utilitarian case for stolen generations compensation

Club Troppo » The utilitarian case for stolen generations compensation — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:14:18 +0000

[...] no doubt correct, just as Nicholas Gruen is correct that Joshua Gans’ suggestion of temporary increases to GST have Buckley’s [...]

By: David

David — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:42:21 +0000

Joshua says “consider the opportunities here to enact environmental policies that raise costs of dirty consumption goods” and Nicholas says that’s not a goer.

But what’s a national emissions trading scheme, which the government - beyond considering - has committed to implementing by 2010 if it’s not an example of “environmental policies that raise costs of dirty consumption goods”? More than a goer, it’s a near certainty.

Someone should have a good think about the macro implications of emissions trading (hopefully someone already has) and whether it can (or should) be used as an anti-inflation tool, because it is coming - and pretty soon. OK, it’s still 2 years away so it won’t help in the short term but the Reserve is forecasting that inflation will still be above 3% in 2010 aren’t they?

By: Fleeced

Fleeced — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:40:59 +0000

There’s a more fun exercise… what spending should we cut?

Despite huge decreases in unemployment, and tougher rules on receiving benefits, social security and welfare expenses in last budget were over $96b! It’s actually been increasing in real terms… how is this possible?

Baby bonuses and first home-buyer’s grants are certainly inefficient, but it would prob be unpopular to remove them…

By: Jacques Chester

Jacques Chester — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:43:19 +0000

There’s were HUGE increase in wasteful spending under Howard - and not on the poor either - so cutting spending shouldn’t be that hard at all… there’s plenty of fat to cut.

That’s been my thinking too. Ditto Nick’s observation in the growth of actual staff. There’s a massive labour shortage across the nation and the Commonwealth is hogging a huge number of people. It could cut spending and ease some of that shortage at the same time.

By: wilful

wilful — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:26:00 +0000

The negative political reaction to a GST raise would be massive, far beyond rationality. They would be a one term government. No chance in hell.

And a lot of States would be hit for popularity too.

By: Gianna

Gianna — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:55:29 +0000

They definitely shouldn’t go springing things on people that weren’t mentioned before the election, but there’s no reason they can’t start to gently introduce debate on other options ‘going forward’. They’re not going to be able to swing anything very radical this year but maybe, post-Summit, they might have an audience slightly more receptive to new ideas?

By: CoreEcon » Blog Archive » Taxation options

CoreEcon » Blog Archive » Taxation options — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:26:35 +0000

[...] up from my Age piece yesterday, Nick Gruen — who was also there — notes that I wasn’t asked to consider the proposed income [...]

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:15:44 +0000

I think both of Joshua’s main ideas - GST and green taxes and charges aren’t really goers here. The former is completely out for any number of reasons. Economically its main benefit over doing the same on the income tax side is encouraging delayed consumption. But you’d be talking about changes in tax rates of 1% odd, so I can’t see much of that effect happening.

I think it’s great to get the latter (green taxes and charges) on the agenda, but I suspect decent measures can’t be designed and implemented quickly.

By: SJ

SJ — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:58:03 +0000

James Farrell Says:

Joshua’s GST idea is interesting.

This would be something that would undercut the whole legitimacy of the the Rudd government. Just like how Howard didn’t mention Workchoices prior to the 2004 election, Rudd hasn’t said anything about raising GST. Costello ran a scare campaign a while back about Labor increasing GST if it won office.

At this point, trust in the government is very important, as Nick says:

… the government should not debase democracy to avoid debasing our currency

By: Fleeced

Fleeced — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:43:48 +0000

In other words, Joshua’s saying “Yes, keep the income tax cuts, but increase other taxes” - what a douche!

There’s were HUGE increase in wasteful spending under Howard - and not on the poor either - so cutting spending shouldn’t be that hard at all… there’s plenty of fat to cut.

By: James Farrell

James Farrell — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:35:01 +0000

Joshua’s GST idea is interesting. It won’t work if the states spend the money straight away, but they could put in a fund for capital works in hospitals and schools, to be used when the recession hits.