The Australia Institute will be holding a special Revenue Summit on Wednesday 17 October 2018 in Parliament House, Canberra.

Event description

Tax is the price we pay to live in a civilised society, but in contemporary Australia we rarely ask how much civilisation we would like to buy and what the best new ways way to fund any increase in civilisation might be.

We need to talk about revenue. After decades of spending cuts, efficiency dividends and budget emergencies it is time to confront the fact that many of Australia’s problems, both real and imagined, flow directly from the fact that we have chosen to be one of the lowest taxed countries in the developed world.

In Australia today the term ‘tax reform’ is too often used to conceal more demands for more tax cuts. However it is possible to reform the tax system in a multitude of ways that would result in more tax revenue, a simpler tax system, and stronger public finances.

This historic event see some of Australia’s leading experts discuss the need to increase public spending in order to strengthen our economy and our society, as well as new ways to efficiently and equitably increase public revenue in ways that will strengthen both our public finances and our future economy.

Stakeholders from across health, education and infrastructure service provision will present their assessment of our current public services, and present their vision for what public services Australia could provide in the future.

Economists and taxation experts will discuss revenue raising options to meet our public spending needs, including increasing current taxes, introducing new taxes, and increasing public debt to fund public services.

Keynote speakers include:

  • Bernie Fraser, Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
  • Dr Mike Keating AC, Former Cabinet Secretary and Head of Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet; former Head of Department of Finance; former Head of the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations.
  • Professor Patricia Apps, Professor of Public Economics, The University of Sydney Law School; Adjunct Professor, ANU and UTS; Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia; and Research Fellow of the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Germany.

For registrations and more information, please visit the event webpage and The Australia Institute website.

Comments are closed.