How to camouflage $150 billion in government spending? Call it 'tax expenditure'

By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society and NATSEM, University of Canberra

This financial year the Australian government plans to spend at least A$150 billion on so-called tax expenditures – tax concessions or exemptions applying to particular activities or classes of taxpayer.

And that’s just on the top ten tax categories, covering homes, superannuation, trusts, depreciation, food, education and health.

In 2020-21 the cost of these ten tax breaks totalled $118.6 billion. This suggests revenue…

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