In recent months in Australia there has been extended debate about whether the age pension, particularly with regard to single pensioners, is sufficiently high to allow older Australians to attain an acceptable standard of living. This is an important policy consideration given Australia’s rapidly ageing population. By using microdata and microsimulation models, this paper examines the national and spatial impacts on the distribution of poverty among older single people of an increase in the single age‐pension rate. This paper shows that the cost of increasing the single age‐pension to 66 per cent of the couple‐age pension rate would be about $A1.3 billion and would benefit about 824,000 single age‐pensioners. Further, it is estimated that such an increase would reduce poverty rates for lone older persons from 46.5 per cent to 36.5 per cent, a 10‐percentage point reduction. Looking at the spatial distribution of such benefits, the effect of the policy change seems to be generally stronger in capital cities, and in bands of rural areas in New South Wales and Victoria.
Measured among themselves, industrial state-owned enterprises (SOE) in Vietnam have recorded a rather high level of technical efficiency, as well as a moderate improvement in technical efficiency between the 1997 and 1998. Of the possible factors, the share of skilled workers, location in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and engagement in export activities were considered the most important in determining the technical efficiency level. Between 1997 and 1998 there was no evidence of technological progress. For the ongoing SOE reform process in Vietnam, attention should be given to improving the skills of the work force and to encouraging the export-led development strategy. Creating a competitive environment and a fully developed system of market-supporting institutions is also highly needed. In addition, it is necessary to invest in new technology for industrial SOE in Vietnam.
The effective tax rates and possible work disincentives created by Australia’s tax and welfare systems have been receiving extensive policy attention in recent years. Family Tax Benefit‐Part A (FTB‐A) is one of the key causes of high effective marginal tax rates for many families. This study uses national and spatial microsimulation models to evaluate the national and local impacts of a possible FTB‐A reform option, which involves reducing the income test withdrawal rate associated with the FTB‐A income test. The modelling suggests that the option would be an effective way to reduce high effective marginal tax rates for around 415,000 parents of FTB‐A children, would benefit around 850,000 families, and would deliver additional assistance to middle income families living on the outskirts of our cities.
This article reviews trends in effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) from 1996–1997 to 2006–2007 for working‐age Australians. Although sweeping income tax cuts reduced effective tax rates for many taxpayers, the extension of income‐tested welfare payments and tax concessions worked in the opposite direction. The proportion of working‐age Australians facing EMTRs of more than 50 per cent increased during the period, from 4.8 to 7.1 per cent, representing some 910,000 Australians. This article also provides the first international comparisons of how the distribution of EMTRs for earners in Australia compares with those prevailing in Europe.
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