Chapter 1 – My Credentials – Tax Reform Australia

Keen to get to the meaty text. Skip this chapter and then decide whether my qualifications, varied career and diverse activities are of any further interest.

Diligent study, several brilliant mentors, hard work and good fortune helped a boy from Bundy (Bundaberg) obtain a first-class education and understand how the share market, tax system and economy work.

In 1966, a lengthy period as undergraduate secretary of the Political Economy Club started by John Maynard Keynes in Cambridge concluded my formal education.

Being born and educated in Bundaberg contributed to this good fortune. Key residents of this rural town excelled at encouraging young students to get ahead helping with holiday employment, mentoring and career counselling and encouragement. Bundy itself contributed heaps. A brilliant climate, abundant sporting and beach activities, affordable housing and living costs attracted top quality public-school teachers.

Thanks to all this several of my final year colleagues could and still can mix it with the best. Further education was the passkey for a few while many more others succeeded in farming and business. Studying economics at Queensland University and a Shell Scholarship to Cambridge helped me on my way.

Being dragged to church every Sunday added a big bonus. A leading businessperson took me (at age 14) aside after the service, Son do you want to grow up poor like your mother and father? (A single income schoolteacher family with four children and a small mortgage). Would you like to meet my broker in Brisbane?

That led to a lifelong friendship with Robert Monteith (Bob) Wilson of Wilson and Co in Brisbane. Bob and his brother John focused on conservative long-term investments locally and overseas (including Silicon Valley in the early days). Like Keynes they targeted undervalued quality shares. John focused on resource stocks with potential Ie. Large and prospective tenements.

Wilson and Co. spared no expense, getting the best technical advice from analysts, geologists, paleontologists etc. Using this research leading UK and some US brokers were extremely keen to chance their luck down under.

Bob started me off by lending 500 pounds (a lot in 1956) with only one condition. That was to explain just why I was buying the share. (An early piece of advice – do not borrow for risky investments; the only risk you want is on the upside).

Truly relevant for later chapters was their backroom tutoring about strategies and managing a portfolio. At that time owning shares in street name (U.S. terminology) avoided signing transfer forms and delivering certificates at the time of purchase or sale. The CHESS system has removed the need to do this these days but using a nominee company opened my eyes about what goes on in the real world.

Disguising ownership, helping corporate activity and tax avoidance (and even evasion). are key benefits. Only directors and substantial shareholders must reveal their nominee holdings. Without nominee companies also share lending, short selling and other market activities would be much more difficult. More about the opportunities opened to reducing tax bills later.

This part of my education did not detract from my academic progress. Indeed, at Queensland University (U of Q) and Cambridge it helped.

Consider one quite profitable example.

A U of Q demography lecturer highlighted the impact that a growing 17-21 age group was having on the economy, jokingly adding that this was good for the pubs. HELLO. Brewery shares were worth looking at. The decision to reduce the minimum drinking age also helped. The local XXXX brewery was my first target, but another 28 breweries were also listed. Several added to my kitty.

The risks were minimal. Unlike today, many company accounts valued their assets conservatively. Fortunately for us small fry, only a small percentage of investors aggressively hunted for opportunities. The exceptions included John Elliot, who started a large empire raiding the large hidden assets of the Henry Jones IXL Group and after that Carlton United Breweries.

Brewery profits were were rising by approximately 20% a year, but the market was slow to realize this was happening industry wide. Price revaluations only occurred over an extended period. Today computer and AI aided brokers, hedge and fund managers continually search for opportunities and act quickly.

Many thanks to Shell Australia for funding my period in Cambridge. How fortunate one can be. Two years later Royal Dutch went all out to sign me up with a one-week tour of Holland including a meeting with the Board. That meeting revealed that I won the Shell scholarship for two reasons; the other front runner was from Geelong Grammar and my interest in investing.

The stars aligned themselves properly from then on. Ron Lane, an excellent U of Q public finance lecturer, helped enormously. Many years earlier he studied at Clare College under Brian Reddaway as tutor. Highly respected in England, Reddaway also had close ties to research at Melbourne University.

Reddaway arranged usually two on one tutorials with the cream of the faculty. and signed me up to Political Economy Club initially started by Keynes. Jointly run by Richard (Lord) Khan (who helped Keynes with his General Theory) and Joan Robinson, that good fortune ensured an education in the Cambridge tradition.

Lord Kahn was a recluse, but Joan the Accumulation of Capital author focusing on the oppressed and less well-off. You needed to be alert and familiar with her several books. Even now sixty years later, Google search lists her famous quote as “The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all.”

Joan enjoyed talking about investing. Coming from Bundaberg State High and not Eton or Rugby also helped, telling me at one Political Economy Club meeting “As Maynard (Keynes) said, you can have all the theories in the world, but you only succeed in the market”.

She loved challenging ideas. One evening, Joan quizzed Nicholas (Lord) Kaldor about what I thought was a logical flaw in his Expenditure Tax book’s comparison with the Chicago Schools Henry Simons’ comprehensive income tax base.

Joan: Nicky Dixon tells me that your comparison with Simon’s Income Tax is flawed. Is he correct? No answer. Kaldor huffed and puffed before walking away to join another group.

My JPE (Chicago School) note sets out the point at issue clearly. Kaldor had overstated the good (but not overwhelming) case for using expenditure rather than income as the personal tax base. Simons’ comprehensive income tax included gifts and bequests in taxable income. His expenditure tax base excluded these important intergenerational transfers.

Without a separate tax on gifts and bequests, an expenditure tax favors people who save money and give it away later in life or at death. To move on from taxation theory, religiously reading the weekly Economist introduced me to oil country.

Very few universities advertise jobs in the Economist. Calgary had the money to do so. Good exam results, solid references led to an immediate job at Calgary University. The pack your bags cable to teach public finance and taxation theory turned up at once.

As life has turned out, besides helping me on the way it helped Santos and several other early Australian oil exploration companies achieve. Having to prepare lectures on public finance and taxation theory also helped me develop an understanding of the diverse issues involved in funding governments.

Looking back now, I regret Joan was not around to see an excellent Accumulation of Capital case study. My interest in sound worthy causes helped Softlaw one of the first Australian AI companies survive. Started by IT experts from the National Library Softlaw used AI to convert government legislation into operating administration rules. Selling the product was tough going in Australia but Gordon Brown in the U.K. was keen, signing up to administer two major revenue programs

That attracted Larry Ellison’s Oracle who paid up not that the accounts were very pretty. Changing hands in 2007-8, Softlaw (renamed Haley) made a major contribution to Mr. Ellison’s fortune.

Oracle recouped their outlay within a year and racedahead by aggressive marketing to the private sector. Softlaw’s big mistake was focusing on government services. Created initially to administer government legislation, Haley had focused only on selling to the public sector. The private sector was and still is more interested in efficiency.

Haley was a perfect example of Joan’s Sheer Misery category-an investment squeezing the livelihoods of both capital and labour by reducing the need for both. More demand for capital to fund data centers has changed where the rewards end up (but not to labour).

Career wise, starting full time work at a well-funded progressive university in oil country provided a real bonus. Frank Anton ran his Economics Department giving where relevant the maximum possible emphasis on Canadian content.

That suited me. Shedding the US textbook used previously, I developed and taught a public finance and tax course using the British North American Act of 1867, recent budgets, and research papers.

Flush with funds, the library was extremely keen to help, quickly expanding their collection to the include latest local tax journals and other Canadian tax publications.

Wildcat drilling creating wealth for many Canadians and importantly also for Alberta’s Social Credit government. Being around seeing and absorbing all of this broadened my horizons, including that investing in the Cooper Basin in the 1970s was a lay-down misère. More about this and the history of Santos later.

Despite secure and generous payment in Calgary, family issues and a desire for a less rigid climate led to a return to the Australian National University. That was a great shock. Moving from a university that cared about the students and course content to one where research had top priority was not what the doctor ordered.

In those days, changing jobs was not a problem. Good references from Cambridge and Calgary and several tax journal publications opened the doors to the Fiscal Affairs Department in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D, C. The big bonus was having Richard Goode as my boss.

Anyone interested in corporate/individual taxation and taxation in developing countries (Google summary) could not have a better mentor.

The IMF was a privileged information loaded life. Tax-free salary, first class travel and excellent facilities enhanced my experience and knowledge of tax and fiscal issues.

The IMF also provided one lasting by-product, experience in the design and operation of defined benefit pension plans. Co-opted to the Staff Association team I played a key role in the renegotiation of the Staff Pension Plan, using the US Steelworkers Union to help.

The Union at once focused on our great advantage compared to the normal employer-employee negotiations. We were negotiating with Executive Directors who were also members of the Plan. All changes also applied to them, as well as us, the staff. Naturally, our submission focused on treating all members fairly, including short- and medium-term employees usually penalized for early exits before retirement age.

The final product enhanced exit benefits for shorter term employees, including many Executive Directors appointed only for short periods by their governments. On leaving the IMF before Argentina started its borrowing spree, a colleague remarked that the only thing that could break the IMF was the new Staff Pension Plan.

Back to Canberra. A sucker for punishment, Treasury head hunted me to help prepare 15 Treasury Tax Papers to give to the Asprey Taxation Review Committee. Those were busy days. Sam McBurney, my boss, drafted 7 papers, leaving 8 to keep me out of mischief. Fortunately, the much-neglected (especially in our universities)1947 William Vickrey Book Agenda for Progressive Taxation helped me draft the key papers about the tax unit, tax base, and rate scale. You will realize how important these topics are in achieving fair and sustainable tax reform.

Designing a fair tax system is a thankless task. Many varied factors affect capacity to pay tax, and some always end up having to be ignored . That spurred Kaldor to conclude that expenditure provided a better index of the capacity to pay tax than income. Opting for one or the other as the preferred tax base still requires many further decisions including about the preferred tax unit (individual or family), special needs and how to deal with annual fluctuations in either income or expenditure.

Time in Treasury passed quickly. The Asprey Committee and the Treasury Tax Papers are now history and have had negligible impact on policy. Of more importance was Treasury Secretary Sir Frederick Wheeler’s assignment to convince then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the urgent need for income tax changes,

Just as now and even more so at that time, three years of high inflation and bracket creep increased marginal income tax rates to unacceptably high levels. After a tense conversation : Where’s Wheeler? (Treasury seldom dispatched a junior officer without supervision). Me. Sir Frederick said that you were more likely to listen to me. Reply That is the first sensible statement that Wheeler has made. The rest is history.

Whitlam acted quickly and decisively, forming a committee of three, Frank Crean, Bill Hayden, and him, to plan a course of action. They set up the Mathews’ Committee on Inflation and Taxation to review the situation and commissioned advice from a group of seasoned specialists, Nugget Coombs, Trevor Swan, and Fred Gruen. Moving me out of Treasury, Wheeler assigned me to support both groups with research and secretarial help.

A five-week IMF assignment in 1972 with Harold Wilkenfeld (from the US Department of Justice) to review the Swaziland tax system helped me do this. Harold (author of HUP Tax and People in Israel) amongst other things had set up the Israeli Tax system for Ben Gurion and later specialized in transfer pricing and other corporate avoidance activities in the US.

Eswanti (as Swaziland is now named) needed his help. Their economy relied on a few large corporations including Lonrho (Tiny Rowland’s rogue company of Africa) for its revenue. As Harold predicted, all the major companies were using transfer pricing to reduce their tax bills. He recommended alternative ways of assessing profitability to minimize leakage and arranged Harvard’s help to train Zulu tax officers

Two years later working in the ATO’s power center with Professor Swan revealed that corporate compliance was also a problem in Australia. Monitoring personal income taxpayers was much easier and given top priority by the ATO. Even then personal income tax provided the largest share of revenue, and the poor scrutiny reduced corporate and trust tax collections.

That stint in the ATO was productive. The Whitlam government acted decisively to change the direction of income tax policy even though like all future governments it was not prepared to index the system for inflation. Fully aware that their 1975 budget created many more losers than gainers, the Gang of Three raised the tax-free income tax area freeing 500,00 low-income earners from tax and introduced the sole parent tax rebate to recognize their lower capacity to pay tax. Higher income taxpayers lost out losing special tax deductions such as for life insurance payments.

Treasury opposed the Whitlam changes on the grounds that the deficit was too high. A more pragmatic Tax Commissioner was more supportive, arguing that the higher tax thresholds would lower administration costs and improve equity. Also, the Mathews’ Committee’s Report on Inflation and Taxation is still as relevant to tax policy today as it was then.

The case for automatic indexation of tax thresholds and brackets to adjust for inflation is overwhelming but politicians do not find it attractive. preferring instead to personally deliver any tax reductions. Not adjusting the rate scale for inflation is still the preferred way for politicians and bureaucrats to increase revenue without the need to change legislation.

With personal income tax continuing as the major source of revenue growth with the sure but steady ageing of our population adding to this financial pressure on the working-age population.

Treasury did not like my involvement in the Whitlam initiatives as a free agent and as soon as Wheeler left transferred me to the Department of Finance. That was extremely fortunate opening up a transfer to the Fraser government’s Social Welfare Policy Secretariat under Dr. Sidney Sax.

This small think tank provided unlimited opportunities to research in depth on key topics ignored by the larger Departments. Treasury did not welcome encroachment on their territory even though they were not focussing on crucial key topics. Two of these were the impact of an aging population and the cost and design of the age pension and superannuation systems. Dr Sax successfully convinced Prime Minister Fraser to set up a multi-department Superannuation Task Force which not surprisingly revealed an extended period of Treasury neglect.

Even now, the ageing of the population has further to go, and the costs of both the age pension and superannuation tax concessions continue to increase. The impact of compulsory employer super contributions, now 12% of wages subject to a high cap, on the ability to fund future expenditures was never scrutinised.

This is a huge expenditure area now. Treasury publishes annually its calculations of the large tax expenditures (i.e. revenue forgone through tax concessions). Employers also face huge on costs to employers through compulsory super contributions, now 12% of wages subject to a high cap

Far from ensuring fair and considerate treatment of all Australians, the system (many would say generously) over-protects the interests of the better-off and well-informed leaving many to struggle to achieve home ownership, an affordable lifestyle, and a comfortable retirement.

In the retirement stakes, the informed, senior public servants and politicians have and are continuing to achieve Rolls Royce retirements Knowledge of the system and via unfunded defined benefit fund super schemes poorly scrutinized for equity and affordability.

Dismissal for upsetting the powers that be led to a post public service career utilizing skills acquired over the years. When saying farewell to my then Minister Don Grimes I jokingly suggested that they should pay me never to work again. That would have saved future taxpayers many billions (a rough but very conservative estimate by any measure).

Amongst several other income sources, writing books, presenting seminars and explaining strategies on Michael Schildberger’s Melbourne Morning and on Tony Delroy’s extraordinarily successful (and brilliant) ABC Night Life programs kept the wolf from the door.

More importantly that highly enjoyable work empowered hundreds of thousands of defined benefit super fund members to maximize their super benefits. that they like their bosses had access to.

Without getting too technical, the private sector specialized in super arrangements schemes which favored the bosses and the higher paid. One quick example. One of the largest listed companies at that time (not named because many others were on the same boat) provided super to all its employees via seven different funds varying in generosity.

No prize for guessing which funds were the best Directors and senior executives accessed Rolls Royce benefits with the generosity falling quickly as you went down the ranks.

Governments and some not-for-profits offered the same scheme to all employees with no discrimination in benefits. In many cases compulsory membership forced all members to join but even then, there were instances of membership being ended because of marriage (for one sex only). Some employers favored voluntary membership with the hidden motive of discouraging membership by financially pressured employees and many others with short term horizons.

Scheme generosity varied widely from government to government or employer to employer especially with their treatment of employees exiting before retirement age or. with voluntary with membership discouraged by requiring member contributions. Time is too short to analyze this here. A later Chapter provides an autopsy of the Commonwealth schemes which have generated a massive under-estimated unfunded liability.

Experience gained helping the IMF staff association negotiate a new U.S. based pension plan highlighted why all government employer super funds end up being almost unaffordable. This fatal flaw is that the people designing and making the decision to introduce the fund are also members and beneficiaries of their decisions.

Without going far into the gory details here, how could federal government schemes designed early in the last century be relevant a hundred and more years later. Unbelievably the funds provided CPI Indexed pensions for life for the member and surviving partner (with protection for remarriage after retirement) not calculated using current actuarial tables.

More specifically the funds still (including a new scheme introduced in 1990) running today used 1922 mortality factors to calculate the pension factor. Back then, most of the population was dead by age 70. Today the average life expectation is well beyond that.

Worse still for future taxpayers, the largest part of the benefits are not backed by any assets meaning that Treasury and the government could ignored their costs in the annual budget. Even NSW’s 1985 decision to close their less generous and more tightly designed pension to new members did not send blaring warning bells to Canberra. Most probably our politicians took comfort that NSW did not shut down their Parliamentary Pension fund at the same time.

Extremely big brownie points however, as far as superannuation is concerned, the government sector treated employees equally. They either offered all employees the choice to join the fund or in many cases compelled membership, Before the introduction of compulsory super and for quite a while after, the private and not-for profit sectors had a very spotty record.

Enough of this. The following Chapters are my contribution to aid future students; interested bureaucrats and would be policy developers appreciate just how complex decision making and policy advising is in the current and future situations given the lack of foresight and the many mistaken past decisions taken in much more favorable times.

The Chapter on Funding a Future War is speculation based on the experience in the UK (where Keynes and James Meade played a key role in funding Britian’s efforts and anecdotes from the members of Chifley’s War Cabinet who Whitlam signed up to help with the 1975 Budget.

For decades, Australians were told that hard work, prudent financial management, and trust in established institutions would provide security and prosperity. Yet for many ordinary Australians today, that promise feels increasingly out of reach. The rising cost of living, housing affordability crisis, mounting government debt, and growing complexity of taxation have created a system that many believe no longer serves the people it was originally designed to protect.

Australia now finds itself at a critical crossroads. Reform is no longer simply a political slogan — it is an economic and social necessity.

At the heart of the problem is a taxation system that has evolved into an overly complex web of rules, concessions, exemptions, and administrative burdens. What was once intended to fund essential services and national infrastructure has gradually become difficult for ordinary Australians to navigate, while increasingly rewarding those with the resources to exploit loopholes and sophisticated structures. Small businesses, families, and working Australians often carry a disproportionate burden, while confidence in the fairness of the system continues to decline.

Housing provides one of the clearest examples of systemic imbalance. Younger Australians are facing unprecedented barriers to home ownership, with property prices in major cities dramatically outpacing wage growth. At the same time, taxation policies and investment incentives have fuelled speculative demand, widening the divide between those who own assets and those who do not. The dream of home ownership — once considered a cornerstone of Australian life — is slipping away for an entire generation.

Compounding these issues is the expanding size and complexity of government itself. Successive governments of all political persuasions have added layers of bureaucracy, regulation, and spending commitments, often without meaningful structural review. While public services remain essential, there is growing concern that inefficiency, duplication, and short-term political thinking are undermining long-term national productivity and economic resilience.

Reform does not mean dismantling the systems that support Australians. Rather, it means modernising them to reflect the realities of a changing world. It means creating a taxation framework that is simpler, fairer, and more transparent. It means encouraging productivity and investment while ensuring that opportunity is accessible to future generations. It means restoring confidence that the system rewards effort, innovation, and responsibility.

Importantly, meaningful reform also requires honesty. Governments must be willing to engage Australians in serious conversations about debt, spending, economic sustainability, and national priorities. Quick political fixes and election-cycle policies may provide temporary relief, but they rarely address the deeper structural issues facing the country.

Australia has enormous strengths: abundant natural resources, a skilled population, strong democratic institutions, and a history of resilience. However, without reform, there is a risk that these advantages will gradually erode under the weight of inefficiency, rising costs, and declining public confidence.

A genuine case for reform is therefore not about ideology or political tribalism. It is about ensuring that Australia remains prosperous, competitive, and fair for future generations. It is about rebuilding systems that empower Australians rather than burden them. And above all, it is about recognising that maintaining the status quo is no longer the safest option — meaningful reform is.

My Past Activities

OBTAINED FROM INTERNET SEARCHES AND PERSONAL RECORDS

For 25 years Daryl was one of Australia’s foremost experts in the areas of tax, superannuation (including public sector superannuation), social security, and investments. He writes regularly for The Canberra Times, the Public Sector Informant and Financial Review Smart Investor magazine. He has authored several books, including Secure Your Superannuation Future (2012) and An Uncertain Future (2013).

Before setting up his own consulting firm, Daryl worked in the International Monetary Fund, the Treasury, the Department of Finance and as Head of the former Social Welfare Policy Secretariat on major policy issues. He has worked as a consultant for a variety of government bodies and undertaken many consultancies for diverse organisations covering the public, private and voluntary not-for-profit sections of the economy.

Daryl has a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Economics with First Class Honours from the University of Queensland. He won the Shell Scholarship allowing him to complete a Master of Arts, majoring in economics also with First Class Honours from Cambridge University in the UK. Daryl has lectured in economics, public finance and taxation theory at the Australian National University and the University of Calgary, Canada.

Books by Daryl Dixon

An Uncertain Future: Exploring the Issues and Options for UniSuper Defined Benefit Fund Members (2013)

Securing Your Superannuation Future: How to Start and Run a Self Managed Super Fund (2012)

Super Strategies for the 21st Century: Post GST (2000)

New Super Strategies: Your Plain English Guide to Superannuation: For Employees, Employers and the Self Employed(1994)

68 Super Strategies (1992)

201 Tax and Investment Strategies (1991)

The Way Ahead in Fiscal Policy (1991)

An Independent Guide to The New Commonwealth Super Scheme: The New and Old Schemes Compared (1990)

The Australian Pensions Guide: How to Get the Age or Service Pension and Maximise Your Benefits (1990)

The New Super Made Easy: Your Guide to Superannuation as Investment (1989)

Unemployment: The Economic and Social Costs (1988)

[CITATION] Unemployment: the economic and social costs

D Dixon – 1992 – Brotherhood of St. Laurence

Techniques of fiscal analysis in the Netherlands

DA Dixon – Staff Papers, 1972 – Springer

Abstract Le présent document étudie les implications en matière de politique budgétaire de
deux techniques d’analyse financière utilisées aux Pays-Bas à des fins totalement
différentes: l’analyse dite de” la marge budgétaire” qui sert à diriger la croissance à long …

Alternative path to integration of social security and personal income tax arrangements, An

D Dixon, C Foster – Australian Tax Research Foundation …, 1983 – search.informit.com.au

This Occasional Paper develops the view expressed in the conclusion to the article on the
problems and benefits of the integration of the tax and social security systems published in
the Foundation’s book Taxation Issues of the 1980s edited by Professor John Head.

The Full Employment Budget Surplus Concept as a Tool of Fiscal Analysis in the United States

DA Dixon – Staff Papers, 1973 – Springer

Abstract The paper describes the concept of the full employment surplus and its method of
estimation in the United States and analyses (1) its widespread use as a summary measure of
budget impact for purposes of policy evaluation and (2) its use in rules that govern the …

[CITATION] Tax Credits and Reform of the Tax and Social Security Systems

D Dixon, C Foster, P Gallagher – 1985 – Australian Tax Research Foundation

[CITATION] The relative costs to government of the young and the old

D Dixon, C Thame – The Australian Quarterly, 1984 – JSTOR

Cited by 7 Related articles Cite Save

[CITATION] Senior Executive Service: Gaining Most Advantage-from Your Remuneration Package

D Dixon – 1990 – Sidney: Premier’s Department, New

Examination of the Imputation System in the Context of the Erosion of the Company Tax Base, An

DA Dixon, RJ Vann – Austl. Tax F., 1987 – HeinOnline

There has been significant erosion of the corporate tax base in recent times even though
corporate gross operating surpluses have increased substantially. A number of possible
explanations can be offered for this phenomenon. It may be due first to explicit tax …

Cited by 3 Related articles Cite Save

[CITATION] The Elasticity of the British Tax System

HJ Baas, DA Dixon – unpublished, International Monetary Fund, 1974

Cited by 3 Related articles Cite Save

Taxation of the Income from Capital-Potential Income as the Tax Base

D Dixon – Austl. Tax F., 1985 – HeinOnline

This paper has been prepared as a blueprint for reform in a major part of the tax
system. It explores the philosophical foundation for basing the system of personal taxation
on the concept of the potential income that could be received from the ownership of assets …

[CITATION] Saving for the Future: A Comparative Study of” savings Policies” in Singapore and Australia

G Carnegie, D Dixon – 1991 – Australian Commission for the …

[CITATION] Superannuation: the costs and benefits

D Dixon – 1993 – Brotherhood of St. Laurence

DA Dixon – Austl. Tax F., 1986 – HeinOnline

An earlier paper has developed a method for evaluation of the costs and benefits of
occupational superannuation tax expenditures which now estimated by the
Commonwealth Treasury to cost some $2.6 billion annually.’This estimate is not generally …

Cited by 2 Related articles Cite Save

[CITATION] Social security issues and the tax reform debate

D Dixon, C Foster, P Gallagher – Economic Analysis and Policy, 1985 – Elsevier

Cited by 2 Related articles Cite Save

[CITATION] Wealth, Distribution and Taxation

D Dixon, RF Henderson – 1988 – Brotherhood of St Laurence

[CITATION] Social Welfare Policy for a Sustainable Society

D Dixon, C Foster – 1980 – Social Welfare Policy Secretariat

[CITATION] Ageing and Its Implications: A Financial Perspective

D Dixon – 1986 – Australian Population Association

[CITATION] The Way Ahead in Fiscal Policy: Discussion Paper

D Dixon – 1991 – … of St. Laurence & Public Sector …

Housing finance in Australia: the impact of taxation

D Dixon, J Toms – Australian Tax Research Foundation …, 1987 – search.informit.com.au

The Taxation Summit of June 1985 set out to promote a fairer and more equitable
taxation system. The tax structure changed by the resultant tax package is, however, having
a profound effect on savings and investment flows. But are the changes achieving the …

Age Composition of Australian Taxpayers, The

D Dixon, C Foster – Austl. Tax F., 1985 – HeinOnline

This note provides an analysis of income tax data on the age composition of Australian
taxpayers. Although only a preliminary analysis (for reasons outlined below), this note
provides information complementary to an earlier Social Welfare Policy Secretariat …

Capital Gains and Income Tax Design Alternatives

D Dixon – Austl. Tax F., 1984 – HeinOnline

This paper develops various points raised in three earlier publications’ as they relate to the
design and structure of capital gains tax. The problems raised by the present differentiation
between capital gains income and ordinary income can be addressed with through a number …

Cited by 1 Related articles Cite Save

Tax avoidance and withholding tax

D Dixon – Austl. Tax F., 1985 – HeinOnline

A withholding tax system was not an essential feature of the proposed method of integration
but was included because it would have two important effects. First, it would address some
of the problems of tax and pension income test evasion. Second, it would deal with the …

Cited by 1 Related articles Cite Save

Costs and Benefits of Occupational Superannuation Tax Concessions

D Dixon – Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics …, 1985 – Wiley Online Library

The past decade has seen very significant progress in the understanding of the nature and
extent of the largely hidden government expenditures which benefit employees who are
members of employer-sponsored occupational superannuation schemes. There is still …

Two years as Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary, Canada and then lecturing in Economics at the Australian National University (ANU).^[1] He was seconded from the ANU to the Department of the Treasury (6 months), then three years with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC focusing on taxation issues in Thailand, Kenya, Barbados and Swaziland all resulting in detailed reports.^[2]

As a consultant to Treasury he worked on a Taxation Review and in various public service positions in taxation and public finance. Key roles included Research Director of the Committee of Inquiry into Inflation and Taxation (chaired by Professor Russell Mathews)^[3] and assisting Professor Trevor Swan with the Review of the personal income tax system for the 1975–76 Hayden Budget.

From 1978 until 1986, he was Policy Co-ordinator for the Social Welfare Policy Secretariat and continued as Head of this Policy Co-ordination Unit. Significant policy papers and reports include Alternative strategies to meet the income needs of the aged^[4] and Tax credits and reform of the tax and social security systems.^[5]

From 1986, he has been an independent writer and consultant. He has worked for the Australian Commission for the Future comparing the savings policies of Australia and Singapore.^[6]^[7]

Daryl also worked as a consultant to the Social Welfare Policy branch of the Brotherhood of St Laurence producing significant published discussion papers including The way ahead in fiscal policy.^[8]

In 1986 Daryl began writing the many newspaper articles and published books on personal investment, taxation, and superannuation for which he became widely known in Australia.^[9]

In 1986 Daryl also set up Dixon Advisory andDaryl Dixon Writer and Consultant.

In 2007 there was a playful reference in The Canberra Times newspaper to his understanding of superannuation in Australia which claimed that there were only three people who really understood super in Australia – “one is dead, one went mad and the other is Daryl Dixon”.^[10]

In 2012, The Strategic Super Investor magazine made Daryl the subject of their annual in Focus profile.^[11]

Daryl Dixon wrote for the Australian press on economic, superannuation and investment issues. He also appears regularly on ABC Radio’s ‘Nightlife‘ program with Tony Delroy where he discusses current superannuation and retirement matters with Tony and answered audience questions.

He retired from formal work in 2019. Convinced that several past and recent policy changes are unnecessarily adding to the challenges facing ordinary Australians, he is now using this domain as a vehicle to comment on policy issues in his area of expertise and experience.

Summary of Past Activities

1960-64 BA First Class Honours in Economics University of Queensland
Shell Scholarship to Cambridge 1964-66
MA First Class Honours Cambridge
Assistant Professor Public Finance University of Calgary 1966-68
Lecturer University of Canberra 1968-70
Fiscal Affairs Economist International Monetary Fund 1970-73
Tax Policy Division Federal Treasury 1974-77
Prepared 8 out of 15 Treasury Papers sent to the Asprey Tax review Committee
Seconded to work with Professor Trevor Swan for 1974-75 budget tax changes
Also, Secretary/Research Director for Professor Russell Mathew’s Inquiry into Inflation and Taxation
Assistant Secretary Department of Finance 1977-81
Social Welfare Policy Secretariat 1981-1986
Member Of Occupational Superannuation Task Force in that period

1986 on

Writer and Consultant – founded Dixon Advisory

Consultant to Brotherhood of St Laurence for several years, Director of HCF Life Insurance Company for 20 years and of several private and listed companies including Drillsearch Energy, Ruleburst (sold to Oracle), US Masters Residential Fund, Asian Masters Fund, and various Bond Funds.

Numerous books on superannuation and investment strategies and several technical papers on taxation policy.

Writer for 30 years in various newspapers and Bulletin magazine of popular superannuation, taxation, and investment strategy articles for general readers.

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