GST

2 June 2020

The Institute of Public Affairs (“the IPA”) Is committed to undertaking research to promote the human dignity of all Australians. At the heart of human dignity is individual freedom. This is why a key focus of the IPA’s research is on freedom of speech, legal rights, and the rule of law which are at the core of Australia’s liberal democratic

24 October 2018

The IPA welcomes the opportunity to provide the attached document, Time to End GST Redistribution: 2018 Update, as a submission to the inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Sure Every State and Territory Gets Their Fair Share of GST) Bill 2018. The report outlines the theoretical and practical flaws in cross-jurisdictional redistribution of taxation revenue (or horizontal fiscal equalization),

19 July 2018

It is a safe rule of thumb to assume that whenever a minister or a bureaucrat says “no one will be worse off”, that means everyone will be worse off. For proof of this, consider the so-called GST “reform” proposed by Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison earlier this month. Morrison’s proposal followed the recommendations made by the Productivity Commission to tinker

18 April 2018

Our new research brief discusses Australia’s alarming GST problem. IPA research has found that the states that are responsible for contributing the most to the GST pool – New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia – have lost $87 billion to the other states and territories since its introduction, under the complex process known as “horizontal fiscal equalisation”. The Institute

10 January 2018

“Australia’s tax system is broken and the Palaszczuk government is right to call for structural reform”, said Daniel Wild, research fellow with the free market tank the Institute of Public Affairs. Today the Palaszczuk government renewed calls for state governments to be given a share of the Commonwealth income tax. “The best reform would be to allow state governments to

13 December 2017

Australia has a GST problem, and Western Australia is feeling the cost The IPA’s Morgan Begg explains.

11 December 2017

Horizontal fiscal equalisation attempts to address differing economic financial circumstances of the state governments by redistributing GST revenue according to an elaborate relativity formula. However, the equalisation mechanism is associated with a number of conceptual and practical problems. There is no justifiable rationale for jurisdictional equalisation, while in practice the process is riddled with uncertainty and complexity. As a consequence

11 December 2017

A new report released today by the Institute of Public Affairs reveals how GST equalisation is creating a class of winners and losers among the Australian states. The report, Time to End GST Redistribution, authored by Morgan Begg, reveals that over the life of the GST, Western Australia has lost $16 billion (22 per cent) of the GST revenue that

23 June 2017

The relationship between taxpayers and government should be symbiotic – to the mutual benefit of each party. This is certainly what Adam Smith had in mind when he wrote that everyone should contribute to the support of government in proportion to the revenue they enjoy under the protection of the state. He also wrote that paying tax was a badge

21 April 2017

“The government’s plan to impose GST on goods purchased from foreign online retailers is a tax increase and should be rejected by the parliament”, said Dr Chris Berg. Dr Berg and Professor Sinclair Davidson, RMIT economists and senior fellows at the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, will appear this morning before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee