Australia needs a fairer tax system
Australia needs a fairer tax system. One that does not place the heaviest economic burden on those least able to pay — working people on pay-as-you-go (PAYG) wages and those on low incomes and fixed incomes such as social security recipients. The Howard Government has gone in the opposite direction, changing the tax system so that the richest pay a lower rate and workers and the poor pay more. The unfair goods and services tax (GST) introduced last year has increased the cost of living, stretching the disposable incomes of families to breaking point. Even though certain food items were supposed to be exempt from the 10 percent GST increase, inevitably higher costs in the production process have been passed on to the consumer. The present PAYG tax system provides that those on higher incomes pay a higher rate of tax than those with lower incomes. It is a progressive tax. But the GST is a flat tax. A millionaire pays 10 per cent on a gas bill, exactly the same as the poorest unemployed family. Low income families pay out most of their income on goods and services — food, clothing, transport and housing etc — while the rich and those on higher incomes pay only a small fraction of their income on these items. As of July 1 this year the Government cut the company tax rate to just 30 per cent. Workers pay up to 48.5 per cent, the highest rate (including Medicare levy). The GST has turned small businesses into tax collectors for the government, imposing considerable new accounting and administrative problems on them. The Government claimed that some small reductions in PAYG and one-off payments to pensioners compensated for the increased cost of living from the GST, but this is simply untrue as families around Australia who are struggling to make ends meet can testify. The Government even claimed that a "typical" family would be $40 to $50 better off with the introduction of the GST and that basic services, such as education, would be GST free. That is obviously nonsense. As families know only too well, school books, stationary, school uniforms, shoes, excursions, school lunches, sport and music are all hit by the GST. The Government also claimed that its tax changes would increase economic growth and so create more jobs. The opposite has happened. The real unemployment level has increased. Wages have been held down, their buying power reduced even further by the GST, while corporate tax cuts boosted profits. There is an alternative The Howard Government's tax changes have proved in practice to be grossly unfair, discriminating against low and middle income earners and all those making use of services such as public education. What is needed is an alternative, progressive tax system which: * Repeals the GST (not merely tampers with it as the ALP's roll-back would do); * Increases the tax rate for high income earners and big corporations and lowers it for those on low and middle incomes; * Cracks down on family trusts which are used by the rich to avoid paying taxes; * Raises the tax-free threshold for those on a low income; * Ends tax avoidance schemes which are used by big corporations to avoid paying their share of taxes; * Adequately funds the Tax Office to tackle tax avoidance; * Maintains the capital gains and fringe benefits taxes; * Eliminates government handouts to companies such as direct grants and tax concessions. The Howard Government's tax plan has been shown to be dishonest, unfair and inequitable. Living standards for many workers have been ravaged by it. A fair and just tax system can only be maintained by getting rid of the GST and by adjusting the PAYG and company tax system to ensure that high income earners and big corporations pay higher rates of taxation. This would immediately improve the living standards of ordinary working people. By changing the priorities of economic policy, wealth could be redistributed to give priority to employment, public education, health services, housing and all the other needs of the people.