Welfare State



Classifying transactions as taxes can be problematic, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding the legal meaning of ‘tax’. While it is reasonably easy to identify a… Read More ›

On the Meaning of ‘Tax’

Just as starfish are not fish, strawberries are not berries, and Chinese Checkers are neither Chinese nor checkers, the Newstart Allowance does not really offer… Read More ›

Increase in Newstart Allowance Long Overdue

A key aim of the welfare system in Australia is to provide a buffer against unexpected or unpredictable events that reduce one’s income stability. Relationship… Read More ›

Welfare Entry and Exit After Marital Separation Among Australian Mothers

Peter Fisher, Treasury under-secretary in George W. Bush’s administration, once memorably described the US government as “a gigantic insurance company (with a sideline business in national defense… Read More ›

Why Social Policy Counts

Thirty years after Prime Minister Bob Hawke famously promised that by 1990 no Australian child would live in poverty, Bill Shorten has promised that, if… Read More ›

It’s Not Just Newstart. Single Parents Are $271 per Fortnight Worse Off. Labor Needs an Overarching Welfare Review

In his 5 October comment on Austaxpolicy, Relax. The Divide Between the Taxed and the Taxed -Nots Isn’t New and Doesn’t Buy Elections, Peter Whiteford… Read More ›

Is the Proportion of Net Benefit Recipients a Concern? A Reply to Peter Whiteford

“We have reached a tipping point,” the secretary-general of the OECD said in 2015. “Inequality can no longer be treated as an afterthought. We need… Read More ›

Good Times, Bad Times

There is little agreement about whether inequality in Australia has increased or declined in recent years. Some experts argue that the level of inequality in… Read More ›

Measuring Inequality of Opportunities

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