The Treasurer says he considers there is a case for ongoing discussion, particularly with the states, about tax reform. In particular, he said there was a case for talking to the states about reducing the number of taxes in Australia which don’t raise very much money, that are a compliance burden for business and an administrative burden for government. Mr Bowen however, said he did not think there was a case for increasing the GST rate nor for broadening the base. He said “if you are raising money through the GST to give the states more money to abolish taxes, then you’re not giving it back to people who would be impacted by the increase in the GST, and it’s necessarily regressive nature”.
Source: Treasurer’s interview on Sky News, 7 July 2013
[LTN 129, 8/7/13]