Talking with the tax team about policy

On this week’s Policy Forum Pod we lift the lid on one of the most hotly-contested policy areas – taxes – and speak to the authors of a new report on how we can create a tax system that eases the unfair burden on younger Australians. Despite repeated calls for reform – including Ken Henry’s Tax Review of 2008 – Australia’s tax system remains complex. But according to the authors of a new report, it’s not just complicated and hard to understand, but also a system that unfairly penalises younger people while giving older, wealthier Australians concessions. So, what’s going wrong in Australia’s tax system, why have we found it so politically problematic to get substantial change, and what would a fairer tax system for all look like? This week on Policy Forum Pod we speak to two of the report’s authors, Professor Robert Breunig and Kristen Sobeck.The report, The taxation of savings in Australia: theory, current practice and future policy directions is written by Peter Varela, Kristen Sobeck, and Professor Robert Breunig at Crawford School’s Tax and Transfer Policy Institute. It is available to download here.Professor Robert Breunig is the director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute. He conducts research in three main areas: economics of the household, empirical industrial organisation, and statistical and econometric theory.Kristen Sobeck is a Senior Research Officer at Crawford School of Public Policy's Tax and Transfer Policy Institute.Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum. Policy Forum Pod is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Subscribe on Android or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to [email protected]. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.