SAUL ESLAKE

Economist

SAUL ESLAKE

‘Welcome to my website …
I’m an independent economist, speaker, company director
and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Tasmania’

Taxation


Taxation is an important part of economic policy – not only in raising revenue for governments to spend, but also in influencing private saving, investment and spending decisions, and for affecting the distribution of income and wealth. Decisions as to what is (or isn’t taxed), and at what rate, are always controversial, and sometimes have unintended consequences.


The case for reducing the capital gain tax discount

Housing, Publications, Taxation | 7th June 2016

Article originally published in ‘Around the House’, the newsletter of Shelter NSW, a housing advocacy group, in June 2016


Negative gearing simply a form of ‘tax avoidance’

Housing, Publications, Taxation | 31st March 2016

Saul Eslake | The New Daily | 23rd March 2016 In a recent interview with the ABC’s Leigh Sales, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull defended negative gearing as “income tax 101”, by which he went on to explain as “a fundamental principle of tax law and has been forever that you can deduct from your income the […]


Labor’s negative gearing aims echo Coalition housing changes

Housing, Publications, Taxation | 23rd March 2016

Saul Eslake | The New Daily | 23rd March 2016 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been vocal in decrying the Labor Opposition’s plans to restrict negative gearing to investors buying new properties, claiming it will lead to a crash in the price of existing housing. But the evidence is against this hypothesis. Over the last five […]


Negative gearing proponents’ claims don’t stack up

Publications, Taxation | 15th March 2016

Saul Eslake | The New Daily | 16th March 2016 Negative gearing policy has been a battleground for many years and its emergence as a hot button issue in the upcoming federal election has brought the friends and enemies of the practice into the field once more. Some are warning about “unintended consequences” which they say […]


The case against negative gearing

Publications, Taxation | 18th February 2016

Op-ed article published in the Australian Financial Review, 18th February 2016, alongside an opposing viewpoint from Ken Morrison, CEO of the Property Council of Australia


Reforming the Australian Taxation System: A Principled Approach

Taxation | 22nd September 2015

Address to the Australian Financial Review’s Tax Reform Summit, 22nd September 2015


Small businesses aren’t really the ‘engine room’ of the economy, and don’t deserve preferential tax treatment

Taxation | 15th August 2015

Article published in ‘Management Today’, the magazine of the Australian Institute of Management, August 2015


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WHAT'S NEW

Most Recent Articles, Talks and Presentations


The implications of Australia’s higher-than-expected March quarter inflation numbers
News, The Australian Economy
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‘A distinctive part of life in Australia’ The Declining Dream of Homeownership
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing
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Could China have a currency crisis at some point in the next 2-5 years?
Asian Economies, The Global Economy, Topics
16th April 2024


“The Great Housing Disaster – Who’s to Blame?”
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, Recent Media Interview, Topics
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The Economic Consequences of Surges in Immigration
Australian Society and Politics, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy, Topics
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Is China heading for some kind of currency or financial crisis?
Asian Economies, The Global Economy
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The next four years will be difficult for Tasmania
News, Tasmania
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Some initial reflections on the outcome of the 2024 Tasmanian State election
Australian Society and Politics, Tasmania
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Tasmania’s fiscal position
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Productivity, Tax Reform and ‘Peak China’
Asian Economies, Economic Policies, Productivity, Taxation, The Australian Economy
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Tasmania – lost opportunities
Tasmania
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The Tasmanian Economy
Tasmania
29th February 2024


The worst public policy decision of the 21st Century
Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview
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Is ‘price gouging’ a major contributor to inflation?
Recent Media Interview
19th February 2024


The massive $50bn GST revenue distribution blow out (with Andy Park)
Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview
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TESTIMONIALS

What Others Say


“You are one of the best at what you do in the world”
Gail Fosler, Chief Economist, The Conference Board, New York, December 2002

“I have never known an economist to have such a knowledge of world economic facts and to be able to bring to bear so much information in answering a question without notice”
Charles Goode, Chairman, ANZ Bank, July 2009

“Saul Eslake is … a highly regarded independent economist with the highest degree of integrity"
John Durie, Columnist, The Australian, July 2009

“… one of the few people in this world who can have so many oranges up in the air at the same time but still manage to catch them"
Andrew Clark, journalist, Australian Financial Review, November 2008

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