Taxploitation

In this new book, ten eminent authors explain why and how Australias system of personal income tax needs reforming. The total tax take in Australia is around the OECD average, but tax on peoples incomes is well above average. The top rate is out of line with most other western countries, which have been moving to lower and ?atter rates. Because the threshold at which people start to pay tax is well below subsistence, people are taxed before they have earned enough to keep body and soul together. People on welfare are deterred from looking for work and low-wage families are penalized whenever they try to increase their take-home pay. Secondly, the system is riddled with distortions and disincentive effects. Outside of the federal government there is a mounting demand that something radical needs to be done to tackle these problems. This book looks at the options and demonstrates that the case for radical reform is now unanswerable.