Georgina Downer and author and economist Paul Tilley discuss the history of tax reform in Australia to highlight its influence on present day policy decisions. Through comparative analysis of tax structures overseas, they also explore the benefits of a system of taxation characterised by three key markers of success — efficiency, equity, and simplicity.

Paul Tilley is an author and economist. He served as an economic policy adviser to governments for 30 years, working mainly in Treasury but also the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Treasurer’s Office, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University’s Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, and a Senior Fellow at the Melbourne Law School. Prior to writing Mixed Fortunes: A History of Tax Reform in Australia, he published Changing Fortunes: A History of the Australian Treasury.