Meet the advocates taking on Australia’s tax system
Image courtesy of Think Forward
If we’re serious about reducing entrenched economic inequality, Australia needs a fair and balanced tax system and bold advocates to champion the cause. Through our latest grant round, we set out to find them.
Almost two-thirds of Australians think our tax and wealth transfer system either does nothing to reduce income and wealth inequality or makes it worse.* What could make it better?
Progressive tax reform offers many routes, from closing corporate tax loopholes, to taxing wealth like we tax work, to raising the tax-free threshold, all seeking the same destination: a fair tax system.
Tax justice is a priority for the Reichstein Foundation because a well-designed, fair tax system is an effective, democratic and egalitarian way to address the range of issues we work on as funders. Our recent grant round, held in collaboration with Tripple, focused squarely on this issue.
The response from civil society was outstanding. We received some 40 proposals tackling a wide range of injustices, from corporate tax avoidance to unfair tax incentives entrenching intergenerational inequity.
What became clear from these proposals is that the community sector has the solutions; what’s missing is public support and political will – and the philanthropic funding. While momentum for tax reform is growing, funding to support this work remains scarce. Together with Tripple, we’re working to change that and are thrilled to support the following seven outstanding organisations.
Meet the advocates
Think Forward
Think Forward believes Australia’s tax system is failing young people. Tax incentives are unfair, with the system favouring wealth accumulation over work, limiting opportunities for younger generations. This generation is also excluded — 87% of young people feel unheard in tax and economic policy debates — and tax literacy rates are low for this cohort, limiting their ability to advocate for their rights.
Think Forward’s Tax Wealth, Not Work campaign, aims to socialise these ideas, particularly among younger generations, to build broad public support for reform, making it easier for political leaders to act.
The Community Tax Project
While there is strong interest in tax justice collaboration, little infrastructure exists to support it. The Community Tax Project fills this gap, connecting civil society with academic expertise, fostering resource-sharing and collective action for a fairer tax system.
It’s a perfect partnership to achieve this outcome: the Australian Council of Social Service is Australia’s peak advocacy body on inequality, Melbourne Law School a leader in tax justice law and policy. Through the Community Tax Project, they will work to shape public debate on key tax reforms that promote social justice and reduce inequality, elevate the voices of experts and those with lived experience and mentor the next generation of progressive tax advocates.
Antipoverty Centre
The experts in poverty are the ones who live it, yet they are often excluded from crucial debates like tax reform. Over the past year, the government has claimed “every Australian” benefits from income tax cuts, ignoring the realities of those experiencing poverty and unemployment, who pay regressive taxes like GST.
The Antipoverty Centre is led by and for welfare recipients, ensuring their expertise shapes policy. Building on its advocacy to change rules that financially punish poor people for paid work as well as superannuation and housing tax breaks that favour the wealthy, the Centre is now set to shift how people perceive taxation and the “taxpayer” — demanding a system that recognises everyone and values all contributions.
Punter’s Politics
Punter’s Politics is a one-person media organisation on a mission to expose how Australia’s political and economic systems are rigged against everyday Australians — and empower them to fight back.
Founded by a former economics teacher, Punter’s Politics breaks down complex issues — from corporate tax dodging to political corruption — into straight-talking, easy-to-digest content. With hundreds of thousands of followers across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, it’s already shaking up the national conversation.
Punter’s Politics’ tax campaign is now set to transform how Australians think about tax fairness, its core message “I Pay My Tax, THEY Don’t” a rallying cry for working Australians who do the right thing, while big corporations and billionaires dodge their obligations.
Economic Media Centre – Australian Progress
Audiences are hungry for reliable information to make sense of unprecedented times. Meanwhile, journalists and producers are under immense pressure to meet changing audience needs. Finding the right talent can be a challenge.
Enter the Economic Media Centre and its network of more than 1,100 trained spokespeople with broad economic expertise and knowledge, alongside people with lived experience and inspiring ideas on a range of issues — including tax policy. Over the next 12 months, the Centre will deploy this network, which includes spokespeople from Think Forward and the Antipoverty Centre, developing their media skills, securing media stories and shifting the public narrative for a fairer tax system.
Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR)
When corporations avoid paying their fair share of taxes, they deprive the public of funding for hospitals, education and other essential services. Profit-shifting to tax havens further weakens Australia’s economy and its ability to provide secure jobs.
CICTAR is helping to change this by developing detailed case studies on corporate tax avoidance to support union and civil society campaigns. A recent success has been countering corporate lobbying against new Australian legislation requiring multinationals to publicly disclose taxes and key financial data in tax havens. The law’s impact now hinges on how the Act is used and understood to hold corporations accountable — work CICTAR is uniquely positioned to lead.
Per Capita
Per Capita is an independent public policy think tank working to forge a new vision for Australia based on fairness, shared prosperity and social justice.
Building on the success of its Community Tax Summit earlier this year, Per Capita is developing a Green Paper for the incoming federal government, ensuring that policy proposals discussed at the Summit shape policymaking and public debate.
A suite of tax reforms will be covered in the paper, aimed at fairer wealth distribution, reducing inequality, attending to the interests of young people and disadvantaged communities and funding the transition to a net-zero economy.
Calling all funders!
Given the vast resources that wealthy individuals and institutions pour into opposing progressive tax reform, the challenge these seven advocates face is significant.
Some grantees have told us this funding round has potentially doubled the amount of philanthropic funds available for tax justice work, illustrating a little goes a long way. This is an opportunity to back smart, strategic work that can drive real change.
For funders interested in learning more, we’re happy to share our shortlist of exceptional civil society organisations working on tax justice initiatives. To receive a copy, contact us at the Reichstein Foundation or Tripple.
