Super tax change is ‘hard reform': Treasury boss
Mounting opposition to the government's new superannuation tax for balances above $3 million shows how difficult tax reform is, the government's top economic adviser says.
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy said the government needed to consider raising additional revenue to reduce the long-term structural budget deficit, which is forecast to remain in the red for the next decade. The cost of the $50 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme would for the first time next year surpass the cost of defence, which was also costing more, he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
18 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
They were meant for each other, but Trump and Musk were always going to blow up like a SpaceX rocket
Elon Musk exploded like a SpaceX rocket. The debris rained down across Washington. Everyone has been awaiting the breakup of the most public bromance between the most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world. What could go wrong? Too much power and too much ego. President Donald Trump has exerted executive authority to rule by command. And no one has seen anything like Musk's wealth. Will Musk become the world's first trillionaire – before any landing on Mars? What he gave to Trump's campaign was obscene, over $US230 million ($353 million) – more than enough to help Trump finance winning a second term. Trump is cunning as hell. He had his blueprint for what he would do from the moment he was inaugurated president to dominate and control the executive branch of the government: Project 2025. As Carlos Lozada wrote, what is so compelling is 'how far the authors are willing to go in pursuit of that agenda and how reckless their assumptions are about law, power and public service'. Cabinet secretaries and senior officials were to march into their departments and ensure that all the woke culture values of the radical left extremist Marxist monsters were eradicated. Anything having to do with promoting women and people of colour was suspect. Anything honoured in historical reference – such as Black soldiers and airmen who were heroes in World War II – was to be expunged. Anything trans was to be exterminated. The Department of Education and US foreign aid programs were cancelled. Everyone coming into the country was to be scrutinised, down to their social media history. There would be a slashing of programs and government employees. Loading The shocker was bringing in Musk to turbocharge Project 2025. What was unprecedented was the ability of a private citizen to seize control and decapitate the leadership of government agencies, scrub spending and cancel contracts, all while ordering the remaining employees to tell Musk, if they wanted to keep their jobs, what they had done over the past five days. By bringing in one of the most formidable wielders of digital technology in the universe, Musk and the 'department of government efficiency' had access to the databases of virtually all the government – even the most sensitive servers in the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. DOGE was looking for 'waste, fraud and abuse', but they were also able to see the personal e-files of tens of millions of users and recipients in the systems. Why did it have to end this badly? In his formal farewell to Musk, Trump consistently praised Musk for his dedication to the task, notwithstanding the risk to his businesses from his enforced absences. Musk was 'tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations'.
The Age
a day ago
- The Age
ASX closes flat as Lynas, MinRes shine, CBA holds strong above $180
Payments technology provider Tyro was a notable loser during the session, slipping 10.4 per cent after telling the market it had lost its chief executive Jon Davey, who has accepted a job at an undisclosed private equity-backed business. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 finished the day virtually unchanged, remaining 2.8 per cent below its all-time high. The Dow Jones fell 91 points, or 0.2 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3 per cent. However, the local market shrugged off the mixed Wall Street session, as weak US jobs and manufacturing data indicated Trump administration trade policy was weighing on an already slowing US economy, market analyst Kyle Rodda said. 'Although investor sentiment remains robust, largely because of confidence – misplaced or otherwise – about progress in US trade negotiations and strong tech results, the spectre of a slowdown in growth continues to feed niggling fears that the equity market has gotten too far ahead of itself,' he said. The action was strong in the bond market on Wednesday, where Treasury yields tumbled following the weaker-than-expected economic updates. One update said that activity contracted for US retailers, finance companies and other businesses in the services industries last month, when economists were expecting to see growth. Businesses told the Institute for Supply Management in its survey that all the uncertainty created by tariffs is making it difficult for them to forecast and plan. A second report from payroll systems provider ADP suggested US employers outside the government hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected. That could bode ill for Friday's more comprehensive jobs report coming from the US Labour Department, which is one of Wall Street's most anticipated data releases each month. So far, the US job market has remained remarkably resilient despite years of high inflation and now the threat of President Donald Trump's high tariffs. But weakness there could undermine the rest of the economy. To be sure, ADP's report historically has not been a perfect predictor of what the US Labour Department's report will say. 'Whether this report is accurate or not, traders and investors will read today's number as a dark result for trading today,' according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. 'This may be the tip of an iceberg, but it also could be a false start.' Following the reports, traders built up bets that the Federal Reserve will need to cut interest rates later this year in order to prop up the economy, which in turn caused the fall for Treasury yields. The weaker-than-expected ADP report also pushed Trump to call on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver cuts to rates more quickly. Loading ''Too Late' Powell must now LOWER THE RATE,' Trump said on his Truth Social platform. 'He is unbelievable!!!' The Fed has yet to cut interest rates this year after slashing them through the end of 2024. Part of the reason for the pause is that the Fed wants to see how much Trump's tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation. While lower interest rates could boost the economy, they could also give inflation more fuel. Longer-term Treasury yields have also been rising in recent weeks due to reasons outside the Fed's control. Investors have been demanding the US government pay more in interest to borrow because of worries about whether it's set to add trillions of dollars to its debt through tax cuts under discussion on Capitol Hill.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Why the Trump-Musk bromance exploded like a SpaceX rocket
Elon Musk exploded like a SpaceX rocket. The debris rained down across Washington. Everyone has been awaiting the breakup of the most public bromance between the most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world. What could go wrong? Too much power and too much ego. President Donald Trump has exerted executive authority to rule by command. And no one has seen anything like Musk's wealth. Will Musk become the world's first trillionaire – before any landing on Mars? What he gave to Trump's campaign was obscene, over $US230 million ($353 million) – more than enough to help Trump finance winning a second term. Trump is cunning as hell. He had his blueprint for what he would do from the moment he was inaugurated president to dominate and control the executive branch of the government: Project 2025. As Carlos Lozada wrote, what is so compelling is 'how far the authors are willing to go in pursuit of that agenda and how reckless their assumptions are about law, power and public service'. Cabinet secretaries and senior officials were to march into their departments and ensure that all the woke culture values of the radical left extremist Marxist monsters were eradicated. Anything having to do with promoting women and people of colour was suspect. Anything honoured in historical reference – such as Black soldiers and airmen who were heroes in World War II – was to be expunged. Anything trans was to be exterminated. The Department of Education and US foreign aid programs were cancelled. Everyone coming into the country was to be scrutinised, down to their social media history. There would be a slashing of programs and government employees. Loading The shocker was bringing in Musk to turbocharge Project 2025. What was unprecedented was the ability of a private citizen to seize control and decapitate the leadership of government agencies, scrub spending and cancel contracts, all while ordering the remaining employees to tell Musk, if they wanted to keep their jobs, what they had done over the past five days. By bringing in one of the most formidable wielders of digital technology in the universe, Musk and the 'department of government efficiency' had access to the databases of virtually all the government – even the most sensitive servers in the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. DOGE was looking for 'waste, fraud and abuse', but they were also able to see the personal e-files of tens of millions of users and recipients in the systems. Why did it have to end this badly? In his formal farewell to Musk, Trump consistently praised Musk for his dedication to the task, notwithstanding the risk to his businesses from his enforced absences. Musk was 'tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations'.
