All the polls suggested the Keating government would be finished at the 1993 election – until Opposition Leader John Hewson launched a 650-page policy document called “Fightback!”.
Forget the low hanging fruit, for the Coalition tax reform might have well been forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden.
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Robert Breunig, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University and Kristen Sobeck, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Six years of Coalition government has had little impact on the tax system. It’s not clear whether a Labor government would be any different.
The Morrison and Berejiklian governments might be of the same stripe but, with both facing elections in the first half of 2019, their interests rub up against each other uncomfortably.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the legislation would be introduced in the next parliamentary sitting week.
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NSW Liberal Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said after the meeting that “all states and territories put forward the strong view” the bill must include this.
The Labor party has announced roundtables in cities and towns that haven’t been visited by the banking royal commission.
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As speculation mounts there will be another leadership challenge sooner rather than later, the government has finally lost its bid to award tax cuts to big companies.
Treasurer Scott Morrison has revealed changes to how GST revenue will be allocated to states.
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To make a concession to the coal lobby would flout the technology-neutral foundation of the NEG and have much more serious implications than throwing in some money to boost the GST pool.
When details started leaking late Wednesday Malcolm Turnbull quickly declared its proposed model had been rejected.
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The government’s plan released by Treasurer Scott Morrison on Thursday, would ensure the fiscal capacity of all states and territories was “at least the equal of NSW or Victoria, whichever is higher”.
Amazon has restricted Australians’ access to goods from its American site because of the GST reforms.
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The complexity of the reforms might jeopardise the necessary cooperation of overseas businesses, and place consumers at risk of paying wrongly charged GST.
Will there be fewer of these on Australian doorsteps?
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Amazon has barred Australian shoppers from its US site, rather than contend with new GST rules on overseas purchases. But don’t expect a stampede at your local branch of Harvey Norman as a result.
A meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.
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Kevin Davis, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
Applying the GST to banking has much sounder economic underpinnings than the current levy, would have raised much more revenue, and would have applied to all banks rather than just the big banks.
Blessed with mineral royalty payments, the Western Australian Government has seen its allocation of GST revenue slashed.
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