Person

Michael Brennan

Briefing paper

Everyone is different: the problem with a flat capital gains tax discount


One objective of Australia’s capital gains tax (CGT) discount is to approximate inflation and tax real gains. But because real returns vary widely across investors, a flat discount systematically misses the mark. Using data on 1.5 million property investments (2008–2025), this paper shows real returns range from losses to strong gains.
Report

Rising pressures, fading discipline: a review of Australia's fiscal sustainability


Australia’s consolidated government accounts bring together federal, state and local governments spending and revenue statistics. This gives the most complete picture of the nation’s fiscal position. The spending trends outlined in this report highlight that Australia’s fiscal system is inconsistent and inflexible. The analysis points to six potential issues in current policy setting processes.
Report

AI, productivity, and Australia’s choice of regulatory framework

Sarah Vallee

Amid an evolving range of international approaches, this report finds that the Australian Government is yet to provide a clear direction for AI regulation. It highlights the importance of regulatory certainty as an enabler of AI-driven productivity. It outlines five principal channels for productivity gains: labour-improving tools, automation, firm-level reorganisation, sectoral reallocation and knowledge creation.
Report

The lucky country or the lucky city? The location of economic opportunity in Australia


This report follows the trajectories of workers of different occupations, ages, and locations to better understand how wages and housing costs vary between the cities and regions. It also identifies the migration flows within Australia occurring in response to changing locations of opportunity finding overseas immigration has offset the worker exodus from the cities
Research Summary

The ties that bind: five facts on post-employment restraints in Australia


This note presents five new facts based on a new, high-quality firm-side survey to help policy-makers better understand the prevalence, use and economic consequences of non-competes and other post-employment constraints in the Australian economy.

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