This Month
WA GST deal to cost federal taxpayers $53b and rising: budget
The deal will cost $44 billion more than originally promised, but neither side of politics dares change it for fear of losing seats in the west.
- Phillip Coorey
Readers want government to cut debt, rein in spending
Almost 60 per cent readers want Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ federal budget priority to either reduce debt or reign in government spending in this year’s budget - but another 24 per cent want cost-of-living relief to be the focus.
- Edmund Tadros
The instigator of WA’s GST deal says it is failing
Colin Barnett says there was no need for the prime minister to lift WA’s minimum GST “floor” from 70¢ to 75¢ in the dollar, as is set to occur from July.
- John Kehoe
March
- Opinion
- Opinion
Why the GST fiasco won’t be fixed
Fights about the distribution of GST revenue aren’t just about the money – they also reflect the political death of major tax reform. It’s a policy fiasco.
- Jennifer Hewett
Slash income tax, lift GST and levy tech giants: Comyn’s growth fix
Commonwealth Bank’s chief executive is advocating the changes as one way to turn around a forecast long-term economic slowdown.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Opinion
NSW needs to lead the charge on reforming GST share-out
Predicting what will come out of the GST distribution methodology is like cracking the Enigma code. But small states have a vested interest in keeping the status quo.
- Robert Carling
- Opinion
- The AFR View
GST system is paying for lost principles
The GST formula was meant to take the politics out of the system. Now we should be asking if the incentives were wrong in the first place.
- The AFR View
‘Mathematically challenged’: States’ spat over GST gets personal
Even states such as Victoria and Queensland that would probably benefit from NSW’s push to distribute GST on a per-person basis say the proposal is unfair.
- Michael Read, Gus McCubbing and John Kehoe
NSW push to ditch GST formula
NSW Premier Chris Minns wants to tear up the nearly 50-year-old system of distributing federal tax money between states after claiming to be dudded in the latest GST carve up.
- Updated
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Opinion
Loser Victoria shouldn’t be a GST winner
Any federal government that’s serious about reforming Commonwealth-state relations would stop rewarding Victoria’s disastrous financial mismanagement.
- John Roskam
GST stoush to disrupt treasurers’ meeting
NSW will use Friday’s meeting of state and federal treasurers to push for urgent reform of the rules for the carve-up of the GST.
- Tom McIlroy and Michael Read
- Analysis
- Analysis
The real travesty of the WA GST deal
When we should be debating either broadening or raising the GST, we are instead discussing whether taxpayers should continue subsidising Australia’s richest state.
- Michael Read
NSW slams ‘absurd’ GST system as WA gets another $6.2b
Western Australia and Victoria are the biggest winners of the annual GST distribution, while NSW and Queensland will cop a revenue cut next financial year.
- Updated
- Michael Read, Samantha Hutchinson, Tom Rabe and Gus McCubbing
February
- Opinion
- Tax reform
We’re paying more tax for Liberals’ GST fiddling
The costly GST deal attempting to save Liberal seats in WA could cost $50 billion – money that federal taxpayers will have to foot the bill for.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- ATO
No one is responsible for $2b GST debacle
Two years of committee meetings, $2 billion lost and still the ATO doesn’t know who should have picked up the fraud assigned to Operation Protego.
- Neil Chenoweth
At least 150 ATO staff implicated in TikTok GST fraud
At least 150 Tax Office officials have been investigated over a far-reaching GST fraud, with some sacked and others facing criminal investigations.
- Tom McIlroy
‘Beyond comprehension’: WA’s GST deal to blow out to $50b
Economists Saul Eslake and Chris Richardson say the cost of a GST deal negotiated by the Turnbull government to win votes in WA could blow out to $50 billion.
- Phillip Coorey and Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Tax summit would table all reform options
Without an agenda backed by genuine principle, governments will continue to veer from one politically expedient and ad hoc policy change to another.
- The AFR View
January
CEOs ‘back tax summit 100pc’ but Chalmers unmoved
Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott, retailer Gerry Harvey and Virgin chairman Graham Bradley have backed a national summit to jumpstart debate on tax reform.
- Samantha Hutchinson and Gus McCubbing
- Exclusive
- Tax reform
CEOs urge summit to break tax ‘malaise’
The country’s peak business group will attempt to jumpstart a moribund reform agenda with a national summit.
- Samantha Hutchinson
