Outlines which OECD countries include or exclude food, health, education and financial services from their respective consumption taxes, along with various countries’ general consumption tax rate. Introduction At the time the Goods and Services Tax was introduced, health, education and financial services and some food items (mainly fresh food), amongst other areas, were exempted from...

Against the background of declining support for in Australia for greenhouse gas emissions trading, this paper surveys recent emissions trading developments worldwide. The former Rudd Government deferred the proposed emissions trading scheme, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme to at least 2013 due to the slow progress of global emissions control efforts and the political difficulty...

Emissions trading gets a lot of bad press. James Hansen, a leading advocate for climate change legislation, has rejected emissions trading altogether in favour of a carbon tax. In an open letter delivered on 29 December 2008 to then President-Elect Obama, Dr Hansen described cap-and-trade schemes as ‘ineffectual and not commensurate with the climate threat’...

Allowing tax deductions for certain expenses incurred in planting a carbon sink forest has become a controversial topic. This paper looks at the background to the tax deduction, explains why carbon sink forest are important in controlling emissions, outlines recent objections to this measure during the Senate debates over the period 24 to 26 June...

While much of the superannuation system has remained unaltered by these changes, many aspects have been comprehensively altered, especially the taxation of the benefits when paid to the individual. This paper outlines these and subsequent significant changes to Australia’s superannuation system since 1 July 2007.