INCOME INEQUALITY

There are several indirect taxes in Australia, some of them are:

1) Goods and Service Tax (GST)

2) Luxury Car Tax (LCT)

3) Wine Equalisation Tax (WET)

Then there are also several direct taxes, some of them are:

1) Resident Individual Income tax rates

Resident Tax Rates 2012 - 2014

Taxable income	Tax on this income
$0 – $18,200	Nil
$18,201– $37,000	19c for each $1 over $18,200
$37,001 - $80,000	$3,572 plus 32.5c for each $1 over $37,000
$80,001 - $180,000	$17,547 plus 37c for each $1 over $80,000
$180,001 and over	$54,547 plus 45c for every $1 over $180,000

Australia's Inflation Rate

Just like for unemployment, Australia's Inflation Rate is reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS). From 1951 until 2013, Australia Inflation rate averaged 5.3 percent reaching an all time high of 23.9 percent in December of 1951 and a record low of -1.3 percent in June of 1962. In Australia, the inflation rate measures a broad rise or fall in prices that consumers pay for a standard basket of goods.The Governor and the Treasurer of Australia have agreed that the appropriate target for monetary policy in Australia is to achieve an inflation rate of 2–3 per cent, by conducting effective monetary policies.

Australia's unemployment rate for:

Different regions:

Different Age Groups:

As we can see people 15 and below, together with people over 65 represent the largest group of unemployment.

Different ethnic groups:

Men and Women:

Unemployment in Australia

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is responsible for reporting Australia's unemployment rate. The ABS defines someone who is unemployed as:
      --> all persons 15 years of age and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:
              1)had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week;

              2)or were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

In Australia the unemployment rate is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labor force.

In addition, Australia has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the developed world, with an unemployment rate of 5.5%.

FISCAL POLICY USED BY AUSTRALIA TO DEAL WITH ITS DEBT

The Commonwealth Budget is the main instrument of fiscal policy in Australia. It is the estimated revenue and expenditure for the next year and future years of the government. 
Right now Australia has some of the strongest economic fundamentals in the whole developed world. 
For this reason the Australian Government remains committed to the medium term fiscal strategy, which they hope will keep the budget on track and so re gain economic surplus. They believe they will be able to reach economic surplus by the year 2016-17.
Over the past decade Australia's resource sector has contributed immensely
 to Australia's economic growth, creating a big amount of income. 

From the information gathered on oecd.org, I was able to see how Australia's economy has transformed from 2008 to 2013. All the data is given in US dollars ($). Australia's government spending has increased, in 2008 it was 149.2 billion dollars and in 2011 it was 176.1 billions dollars. This obviously lead to an increase in investment, and in 2011 the investment was of 274.1 billions of dollars. The real GDP, that is the actual output of a nation adjusted for changes in the price level from a base year, decreased significantly in 2008-2009, undergoing a change of 1.5%. Australia's GDP, which is what measures the value of a nation's output produced in a year, increased significantly during the years. in 2008 it was 848 billion dollars, whilst in 2012 it was 1041.2 billion dollars.The table below includes data on inflation rate in percentage change over previous period. 

Sadly for Australia, the government debt also increased during these years: from 2008 to 2013 it increased of 33.7%. 

AUSTRALIA
	Years
	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Government spending	149.2	162.5	167.7	176.1
Investment	238.7	248.7	248.6	274.1
Real GDP	2.4	1.5	2.6	2.4	3.6	2.6
GDP	848.0	899.4	937.1	986.7	1041.2
Unemplyment rates				5.1	5.2	5.6
Household spending	458.8	495.0	502.7	531.8
Inflation rate				3.3	1.8
Government deficit/surplus	-0.7	-0.5	-5.2	-3.6	-3.3	-1.8
Government debt	13.9	19.5	23.6	27.1	32.4	33.7