Ross Gittins
Ross Gittins is economics editor of the SMH and an economic columnist for The Age. His books include Gittins' Guide to Economics, Gittinomics and The Happy Economist.
Ross Gittins
Big companies' tax avoidance blatant and shameless
Ross Gittins Paying your fair share is anathema to multinationals.
Tropical tax zone plan destined to be a grand failure
Ross Gittins Don't worry, the federal Coalition's dream of moving a lot of Australia's population north of the Tropic of Capricorn ain't gonna happen. It's a crazy idea practically, politically and economically.
Ross Gittins
Stop grumbling about tax, we all benefit along the way
Ross Gittins Our tax system shows we live in a fairly caring and civilised society.
Ross Gittins
Fat cats that got cream in super tax deal are breaking the bank
Ross Gittins One thing that gets me going is comfortably-off people who feel sorry for themselves: those who complain how hard it is to get by on $150,000 a year, or retired people who profess to be...
Ross Gittins
Carbon tax won't hurt much but we don't want to know
Ross Gittins When psychologists study those sects that predict the end of the world on a certain day, they find the leaders rarely willing to admit they were wrong and their true believers rarely willing to admit...
Ross Gittins
Shift minds on a tax? Unlikely
Ross Gittins People who feel carbon tax is terrible will continue to think this way, whatever the reality.
Deficit realities finally dawn on all
Ross Gittins Something highly significant has happened in just the past week: it's become clear the tide has turned in our politicians' demonisation of budget deficits and debt.
Lies, damned lies and Labor claims
Ross Gittins I guess you've heard the news: the Gillard government has obtained new analysis of data from the Bureau of Statistics showing that Tony Abbott's election commitments inflict brutal damage on working...
Ross Gittins
Tail wagging uneasy dog in budget debate
Ross Gittins I hate to burden you with a topic as earnest as the budget deficit so close to the holidays.
Ross Gittins
It's the weak recovery that worries, not surplus
Ross Gittins I hate to burden you with a topic as earnest as the budget deficit so close to the holidays - I had hoped to write about the idea of giving someone a goat for Christmas - but the saga of whether the...
Ross Gittins
A warning as market pipes tune in America
Ross Gittins Just as it's taking the world a lot longer to recover from the global financial crisis than we initially expected, so it's taking a lot longer than we might have expected for voters and their...
Ross Gittins
The four industries that rule Australia
Ross Gittins Like most, I believe in democracy. But I also believe in capitalism, and though the two have usually been seen in the West as a good fit, of late I'm having doubts.
A crazy idea that would be failure on a grand scale
Ross Gittins Don't worry, the federal Coalition's dream of moving a lot of Australia's population north of the Tropic of Capricorn ain't gonna happen. It's a crazy idea practically, politically and economically.
Ross Gittins
Economy not likely to drag in the voters
Ross Gittins If the economists' forecasts are right - a big if - the economy is likely to be in worse shape by the time of the election.
Ross Gittins
Be a happy taxpayer - the system benefits you
Ross Gittins Listening to all the argy-bargy over the budget update makes you think - what strange things budgets are.
Ross Gittins
Opportunity knocks, but the door has to open both ways
Ross Gittins When governments make grand policy unveilings, as Julia Gillard has with her white paper on the Asian Century, it's terribly tempting for people in jobs like mine to sit back and criticise.
Ross Gittins
Poverty, always the poor relation
Ross Gittins It's remarkable that, despite all the effort and expense the government goes to in measuring gross domestic product, it doesn't run to the modest extra expense of measuring poverty.
Ross Gittins
These well-off retirees' claims are a bit rich
Ross Gittins Tax concessions on super take a huge toll on the federal budget.
Ross Gittins
It's great to have a conscience, now tell us how we'll pay for it
Ross Gittins You may not have noticed, but last week was among the most significant of the Gillard government's term.
Bad-luck budget won't win any friends, but nor should it
Ross Gittins This is a deceptively tough budget. It won’t impress people – either with its parsimony or its generosity - but that’s not the measure of a good budget.
