Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Feels like a great cosmic injustice that I had a parking spot shamelessly sniped from me twice in a row 001
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 13/09/2026What I find so interesting about Australia's FTB is how means-testing, which was introduced as a small budget savings measure in the 1980s, has been driving automatic declines in coverage over time through bracket creep 100
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 13/09/2026I really like this 2021 paper from Norway, which makes a compelling case for universal child benefits over a means-tested scheme Clear wins for horizontal equity, boosting labour supply, smoothing consumption, reducing exclusion errors 110
Reposted by HarveyDavid Sligar @davidsligar.bsky.social · 11/09/2026personal finance column reminds that means testing is a tax that distorts behaviour - and the impact of the age pension cash assets test is unusually aggressive www.smh.com.au/money/super-...smh.com.auThe retirement ‘sweet spot’: Can less super mean more income?The age pension and super work together and can deliver you a closer-to-comfortable retirement. 243
Reposted by HarveyRobert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Sad to hear Ed Davey peddling this. The *overall* tax take in the UK is historically high, but taxes on low/medium earners are low by historical standards & among the lowest in the G7. The cost of living crisis is not due to high personal taxes. Pretending it is just does the Right's work for it. 1221551
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Not one of my usual topics -- but I finally hit my 30kg weight loss goal after nearly 2 years ! 030
Reposted by HarveyChirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Wasn’t a core issue of the calculation debate that even with the right [pricing] data, you can’t reverse engineer the information market transactions reveal? You’d need an unknowable set of behavioral functions. Not sure how AI mitigates this problem. 4222
Reposted by HarveyMatt Darling @besttrousers.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Basically, recessions are caused by "everyone trying to save money at the same time". This is a problem because at an aggregate level, everyone's income is the same as everyone's spending. 964951
Reposted by HarveyDavid Sligar @davidsligar.bsky.social · 27/07/2026The people at the bottom in retirement are those who have a lifetime of low earnings. This can't be solved by little tinkers to compulsory savings. An earnings-linked scheme can't fix low lifetime earnings. That's why a government benefit floor is the effective anti-poverty mechanism. Basic stuff 1156
Reposted by HarveyDavid Sligar @davidsligar.bsky.social · 25/05/2026Difficult to overstate how misleading this is. Any % tax on capital gains (sale price less purchase price) will by mathematical construction result in differing rates relative to sale price. Including the existing regime! That’s not a “profound oversight”, that’s what CGT *is*. 2214
Reposted by HarveyJoey Politano🏳️🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 15/12/2025Reading a bunch of books this year has really solidified for me how awful the internet is in comparison nowadays. Obviously in terms of general hostility but more generally in terms of lack of depth, insight, reading comprehension, base of knowledge, etc 1877872
Reposted by HarveyDavid Sligar @davidsligar.bsky.social · 07/11/2025I've long criticised the dehumanising and patriarchal partner income test embedded everywhere in the Australian welfare state. The tax on love really does hurt families, and has a real impact on relationship formation or termination. www.reddit.com/r/Centrelink...reddit.comFrom the Centrelink community on RedditExplore this post and more from the Centrelink community 1519279
Reposted by HarveyDavid Sligar @davidsligar.bsky.social · 11/09/2025For decades Aus has cut marginal tax rates, largely on high earners, based on exaggerated claims about work disincentives. Meanwhile, over the same period, we've set up *genuinely* punitive (at times > 100%) effective marginal tax rates on low-middle income earners. www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...smh.com.auThe Australians getting hit with up to 122 per cent taxSome Australians who are eager to take on more work are being held back by the prospect of giving up most of their additional income – and in some cases, even paying to work. 45520
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 12/08/2025What happens when you combine growth in spending on older Australians (pensions, health, aged care) with significant growth in their concessionally taxed super + housing? A big shift in relative generosity of net transfers and final incomes for different age cohorts Interesting paper 120
Reposted by HarveyMaia @maiamindel.bsky.social · 11/04/2025people on the other site are doing "is living in denmark better than living in the us" discourse based on that one paper about wealth and mortality and all reasonable interpretations aside, if your metric of wellbeing says that living in mississippi is better than denmark then it's a stupid metric 619813
Reposted by HarveyDavid Sligar @davidsligar.bsky.social · 26/03/2025fun quirk of the discourse: giving $x to everyone *except the poorest* via the tax system is called "targeted" and "progressive" giving $x to everyone *including the poorest* via the payments system is called "untargeted", "regressive" and "middle class welfare" 13610
Reposted by HarveyMichael Thrower Chowdhury @bevansadvocate.bsky.social · 12/02/2025The Accepted Manuscript version of my review of Spies-Butcher's new work 'Politics, Inequality and the Australian Welfare State After Liberalisation' is now on my blog if anyone's interested the complex process of liberalisation reforms. www.bevansadvocate.com/p/politics-i... 043
Reposted by HarveyThe Conversation AUNZ @aunz.theconversation.com · 29/01/2025Two new studies show a briny, carbon-rich environment on the parent body of the Bennu asteroid was suitable for assembling the building blocks of life.theconversation.comNew analysis of asteroid dust reveals evidence of salty water in the early Solar System 023
Reposted by HarveyBruce Bradbury @brucebradbury.bsky.social · 09/01/2025"This tax-and-transfer insurance effect—or the role of the state in reducing adult disadvantages that stem from childhood poverty—matters more than other oft-studied characteristics, such as parental education or marital status, in shaping the U.S. disadvantage compared with peer nations." 02016
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 03/01/20252024 tax expenditure statement showing super concessions estimated to reach an eye-watering $55 billion in 2024-25, billions higher than the previous estimate Even bigger difference for the forwards too - $63 billion by 2026-27! 010
Reposted by HarveyRobin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 11/12/2024Happy 400th birthday to the world's old living bond! 🎂🎉🎊 www.ft.com/content/5122...ft.comHappy 400th birthday to the world’s oldest bond🎂 1117146
Reposted by HarveyJason Murphy @jasemurphy.bsky.social · 04/12/2024A thread of mystifying and hilarious data visualisations from the "Australians" books, published in 1987 by the Australian Government. (originally brought to my attention by @mikejbeggs.bsky.social ) #ausecon #chartcrimes #dataviz 1. Spikes 129836
Reposted by HarveyZac Gross @zacgross.bsky.social · 02/12/2024There have been two economic charts going semi-viral— or at least what counts as viral for ABS statistics—in the past couple of weeks. Both claim to show a dramatic fall in living standards in Victoria and Australia. Both are wrong. gross.substack.com/p/mean-chartsgross.substack.comMean ChartsOn Wednesdays we calculate the median wage statistics 0157
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 23/11/2024Really interesting bit of research on actual vs publicly preferred tax rates in Norway. The gap is mainly driven by changing composition of (differentially taxed) income across the earnings distribution www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 000
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 22/11/2024Incredible chart showing how age influences the amount of tax you pay for a given level of income. Difference driven in large part by super concessions/investment earnings Regressive, expensive and without any compelling equity justification 197
Reposted by HarveyMichael Thrower Chowdhury @bevansadvocate.bsky.social · 21/11/2024Excellent Amartya Sen passage on the key question of equality, 'Equality of What?' Almost all normative theories are based on a form of egalitarianism, they just differ on what they focus on providing equal an entitlement of 2318
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 20/11/2024Amazing chart. Wheat prices way down from where they were in 1264! 132
Reposted by HarveyPeter Whiteford @peterwhiteford.bsky.social · 18/11/2024New research in Australia on "Income inequality and democratic resilience – Impacts and policy choices" from Nicholas Biddle and Matthew Gray csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/defaul... 1/ of a fewcsrm.cass.anu.edu.au 143
Harvey @harveyfischer99.bsky.social · 18/11/2024Australia's once universalist family payments system has gradually wound down to a more residualist one through changes to indexation and eligibility. From ~100% coverage in the 1970s to below 50% coverage in the 2020s 😬 1117
