An article published today in Australia shows the right-wing pro-Trump Morrison Government is consolidating its place in history as Australia’s worst-ever economic manager and, with the Trump regime, among the worst in the developed world today.
Wealth declining steadily
The average wealth of Australian citizens has fallen sharply for the second year in row. This news comes from the annual wealth report by the Swiss-based finance company Credit Suisse.
The 2019 wealth report highlighted Australia as the advanced world’s biggest loser, with a chart showing the loss of wealth four times worse than Norway’s, which had the second-worst outcome. See Credit Suisse’s figure 2 at right. The red print is ours, the rest is theirs.
This year, between January and June, the loss of wealth was the developed world’s third worst, behind the United Kingdom and Norway. See Credit Suisse’s figure 9 at the top. The purple print is ours.
New record net debt
The Australian Finance Department’s October update showed Australia’s net debt has broken through $600 billion. Borrowings have expanded from a paltry $161.3 billion when this Government took office.
Australia under the Coalition has now added more debt relative to gross domestic product than any comparable developed economy, as shown here last month.
Company tax revenue sliding again
As documented here and here, much of Australia’s loss of wealth has been due to the Government’s refusal to collect taxes from corporations, particularly the large foreign mining companies which donate to the Coalition parties.
The October Finance report shows this is happening again, confirming the observation in the USA and elsewhere that pro-big business governments never let a good crisis go to waste.
The total revenue tax shortfall for the year to date to 31 October is $2,109 million. Company tax and the petroleum resource rent tax account for 96 per cent of this.
Recipe for ruin
There is no excuse for this gross mismanagement. Australia has handled the Covid-19 pandemic well – thanks to gutsy decision-making by several state premiers – and has not suffered the economic devastation of Europe and the Americas.
Corporate profits continue to surge and exports remain at historic levels.
As in the USA, restoring the fortunes of ordinary Australians is primarily a matter of returning the tax regime to where it was prior to this hapless regime. Then cutting the appalling waste.
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The original article is accessible here for free:
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australias-economy-collapses-further-as-tax-evasion-whacks-revenue,14571
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Alan Austin’s defamation matter is nearly over. You can read an update HERE and contribute to the crowd-funding campaign HERE. Alan Austin is an Independent Australia columnist, a Daily Kos diarist and freelance journalist.
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“Alan Austin is a great Australian journalist and, I think, a pirate. I steal Alan Austin’s findings all the time.”
~ Jordan Shanks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtV-2X4BjQI