The Australian tax revolt: constructing a ‘new class’ in 1978

Abstract

In 1978 Rupert Murdoch's national daily broadsheet the Australian ran an intensive campaign to prevent the federal government from introducing a Value Added Tax. The campaign drew inspiration from the successful Californian tax revolt of the same year, using many of the same ‘expert voices’ and discursive frames employed by the American campaigners. Central to the campaign was the concept of a ‘new class’ of left-wing elites who represented ‘special interests’ and drained the financial resources of the ‘average taxpayer’ in the process. Authors such as Marian Sawer and Barry Hindess in their 2004 edited collection Us and Them have identified this version of the new class as belonging chiefly to Howard era ‘backlash’ politics.1 However, this article, based on an analysis of 40 tax-related articles appearing in the Australian throughout the ‘tax revolt’ campaign, provides evidence that it was first popularised by the Australian in July 1978. The Australian played a pivotal role in re-constructing for an Australian audience what was essentially an American new-right discourse.