1. Death taxes? Are they kidding?

The Coronavirus has left Australia with a huge debt and now talk is starting about an estate tax to help pay off the debt. An estate tax sounds more pleasant than what it would be called if the Morrison Government or Labor embrace the idea of an estate or a death tax to pay off the debt left behind by the rescue programme from the Coronavirus. At this stage, the call for an estate tax is coming from the Economics Editor of the AFR, John Kehoe but you can bet there are others fuelling the idea. His argument is simple, the young were less threatened by the virus but they will ultimately pay for the Budget and national debt repair bill because they will live longer and undoubtedly with a higher tax rates in the future to reduce future government deficit and the overall debt. Britain has an estate tax of 40% and so does Japan, South Korea, France, the US, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Germany.

2. Murdochs eye Tabcorp

The Murdoch family the power behind News Corp are now eyeing off buying Tabcorp’s bookmaking and media division. The SMH reports today that sources say Lachlan Murdoch, the son of Rupert and the most likely to succeed his father as the driving force behind News Corp, was working behind the scenes with a US investment fund on a potential deal for Tabcorp’s bookmaking and media division. Two sources said that the potential deal involves heavyweight bookmaker Matthew Tripp. Mr Tripp declined to comment but it’s been long thought that the FOX arm of the Murdoch Empire was interested in linking its powerful connection to Foxtel and News Corp newspapers to the wagering industry. Tabcorp’s wagering business has lost ground to the likes of Sportsbet and the company’s board has been under pressure to sell off this division.

3. Where have all the apartments gone?

One of the country’s top developers says the supply of apartments is going to shrink and you can blame the Coronavirus and China. The Australian newspaper reports that 40-something Tim Gurner, who has become one of Australia’s biggest builders of apartments, has told a construction  conference that developers are “kidding themselves” if they try to launch apartment projects of 300 units or more in Sydney or Melbourne amid an exodus of Chinese buyers and a collapse in immigration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Gurner said he was concerned about the Chinese government taking capital away from Australia, which would mean a “complete systemic change to our market”. Before the Coronavirus, Chinese students contributed an estimated $40 billion a year to the local economy, but Chinese travel spending in Australia, including the contribution of students, was down more than $7.3 billion in 2020. And with their parents, they were big buyers of apartments as well.

4. Employee receives final pay cheque in pennies

Over 220kg of pennies have been dumped on the driveway of Andreas Flaten from Peachtree City in the US state of Georgia following a dispute with his former employer. Flaten told local news station CBS 46 that the pennies were dumped after he called the state's Department of Labor over his missing US$915 final pay cheque.

5. Dow Jones breaks 33,000 as Wall Street rises

The Dow Jones has closed above 33,000 for the first time, rising 189.42 points or 0.58% during Wednesday's session to 33,015.37. The S&P 500 rose by 11.41 points or 0.29% to 3,974.12 and the Nasdaq gained 53.63 points or 0.40% to 13,525.20.