The report also found that if the GST was broadened to cover fresh food, education, health and water and sewerage, lowest income earners would lose $1,199 on average per year compared to the highest income earners who would lose $2,904.
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News Corp reports finding a fairer way to encourage retirement savings has been moved to the top of Malcolm Turnbull’s tax agenda, with the Government stepping up work on how it might be implemented.
Labor frontbencher Brendan O’Connor conceded the government was enjoying a honeymoon period from the relief Tony Abbott was no longer prime minister.
“I’ve talked about the need for greater flexibility over people’s working lives, I’ve talked about the need to make sure those tax incentives are targeted”, Mr Morrison said.
“The prime minister is writing cheques that the GST can’t cash”, he told reporters while again urging Mr Turnbull to shift his focus to superannuation reforms.
‘Government isn’t like running a dinner party – you owe it to the people who pay your wages to spell out what you’re doing, ‘ he said.
Mr Shorten accused the current government of labelling an increase to the GST as the solution to a problem that the government itself can not identify, and stressed that opposing a GST increase is not indicative of a Labor refusal to participate in tax reform.
‘They respected the public by allowing them in the discussion that went for nearly a year, ‘ he said.
Deloitte Access Economics director Chris Richardson called two weeks ago for a different approach that would reduce the contributions tax by 15 percentage points from a worker’s income tax rate.
‘This (Deloitte) proposal would affect many more people including middle-income earners, ‘ he said.
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Households would take on part of the cost of a carbon tax but this wouldn’t be as much as they would paid under a GST hike, Mr Bandt said.
