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The IPA has called for structural reform to fix the broken tax mix, saying there are too many nuisance taxes such as stamp duty in Australia's taxation system.
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IPA says tax mix must change
30 December 2014
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Speaking to AccountantsDaily, Tony Greco, the IPA’s senior tax adviser, said there is widespread agreement among professionals that tax reform needs to happen and it's now just a matter of convincing the public.
“I think everyone is in agreement; there are no ifs or buts, we need tax to be reformed and there's agreement from across all sectors that it has to happen. But the public now needs to be convinced of the reasons for it," he said.
Mr Greco highlighted stamp duty as one tax he says needs to be reformed, saying it is a tax “that does a lot of bad things”.
“I think it’s one of those taxes that creates negative effects; for example, if you look at job mobility and downsizing, it just inhibits decision-making because of its very nature,” he said.
Mr Greco also said a change in both the rate and scope of the GST is needed to ensure government revenues can keep up with government spending.
“We have a revenue gap that can’t be filled by cutting expenditure,” he said.
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“A change to the GST will have to be part of the mix and there is also a need to lower the corporate tax rate so there will be a requirement to find money from somewhere, and that’s one of the least distortive taxes that you have a choice in adjusting.
“Unfortunately, the fastest growing parts of the economy are the ones in the excluded category, and that’s why GST revenues aren’t rising anywhere near as fast as everyone thought.”
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