Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables and figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Contemporary Theories of Australian Politics
- Part II Politics in Everyday Australian Life
- Part III Elections
- Part IV Participation and Representation
- Part V Inside the Australian State
- Part VI Contemporary Public Controversies
- Introduction to Part VI
- 25 A Bill of Rights
- 26 Spending and taxing
- 27 Employment and education
- 28 Cities
- 29 Indigenous Australians
- 30 Health
- 31 The environment
- 32 Australia in the world
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
26 - Spending and taxing
from Part VI - Contemporary Public Controversies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables and figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Contemporary Theories of Australian Politics
- Part II Politics in Everyday Australian Life
- Part III Elections
- Part IV Participation and Representation
- Part V Inside the Australian State
- Part VI Contemporary Public Controversies
- Introduction to Part VI
- 25 A Bill of Rights
- 26 Spending and taxing
- 27 Employment and education
- 28 Cities
- 29 Indigenous Australians
- 30 Health
- 31 The environment
- 32 Australia in the world
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
One of the big international political economy debates concerns whether individual states can pursue their own approaches to taxing and spending, or whether they are forced into uniform policy approaches by global economic, political and legal forces (see Chapter 6). This debate has important implications for a range of other approaches to understanding politics. If international forces do determine policy, then any attention paid to domestic political behaviour, institutions and discourses (Chapters 2, 3 and 5) seems misplaced. Indeed, the very idea of democratic control of these major policy areas is cast into doubt (Chapter 1). The key determinants of taxing and spending are purely structural and international (see Chapters 5 and 6). This chapter addresses these issues directly, and makes the case that domestic factors are the key to understanding Australian government policies on spending and taxing; it also argues that alternative policies could have been adopted.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Contemporary Politics in AustraliaTheories, Practices and Issues, pp. 296 - 306Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012