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21 June 2026
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The Labor franking credit proposal creates a group of people who count franking credits as taxable income, and another group that doesn't. A basic principle of tax should be horizontal equity between investment structures.
Two studies dive into the numbers to argue that Labor's franking policy will hit low income earners the hardest, because a franking credit is a constant 30% of the taxable income.
Labor’s policy on franking credits denies some taxpayers the benefit of taxes paid on their behalf, but a franking credit is money withheld by the ATO until the shareholder’s tax return is completed, just like a PAYG taxpayer.
Peter Costello's 2007 changes made payments from superannuation tax free after age 60 for those who are fully retired. Is he responsible for making super unaffordable which is now forcing policy changes?
Denying imputation credit tax refunds to the SMSF as taxpayer will reduce its income, causing pension funds to deplete faster, and its members to turn to the age pension quicker. This isn’t an outcome the Government desires.
Labor has been forced to exempt 'pensioners' from its franking credit refund policy, but the target remains the zero tax paid by large SMSFs in pension phase. That will sustain the class war.
Beneath the dominance of the ASX's largest stocks, much of the market has been left behind. High-quality companies are now trading at levels rarely seen, offering opportunities for investors willing to look deeper.
Something unusual is happening in markets. The winners are pulling further ahead at an extraordinary pace. As return dispersion hits extreme levels, volatility is rising and the investing landscape is becoming harder to navigate.
Extreme wealth concentration is no longer just a side effect of growth. As inequality deepens, its consequences are shifting from a social concern to a broader threat to economic stability and democratic resilience.
AI exuberance is colliding with economic reality. Cracks are emerging as spending surges, ROI remains uncertain and enterprise behaviour shifts. The next phase may look less like an expansion and more like a reckoning.
The 2026 budget has reignited Australia’s tax reform debate, but more work remains. Beneath the surface lies a harder question: what structural reforms are needed to make the country's tax system fit for the future?
The Budget's negative gearing changes defer deductions rather than deny them, yet a worked example shows quarantining can halve the tax benefit's present value for buyers of established dwellings.
In just four years, Australia's private capital landscape has transformed. We are seeing changes across who deploys capital, how deals are structured and why new platforms and investor pathways are rapidly emerging.