Morrison praises Weatherill on GST
Treasurer Scott Morrison believes Australia’s tax system is “holding us back” but won’t say whether changing the GST is the answer.
Morrison says the government’s long-awaited tax white paper will be put to voters before the next federal election.
He’s praised South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, who has proposed changes to the GST including an increase in the rate to 15 per cent, for “making a bit of sense”, but has refused to back any change to the consumption tax as a way to ease the personal income and corporate tax burdens he says are draining the economy.
Morrison’s comments are the latest in the counter-intuitive GST debate, with Labor leader Bill Shorten opposing any rise in the GST, and state Liberal leader Steven Marshall also criticising Weatherill’s GST proposals.
Morrison is confident state treasurers will be focused on how to grow the economy when they meet in February, even if they have different views on how to achieve it.
“We’ll just continue going down that process,” he told ABC radio on Friday.
“I’m not going to make predictions about it.”
State economies were undergoing change as the mining boom wound down, with NSW taking over Western Australia as the powerhouse of the national economy.
“One thing I know that can support growth right across the country is a tax system where personal income taxes don’t punish people for working more, saving more and investing more.”
Morrison says there’s a “good story” about the Australian economy, despite global volatility.
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More than 300,000 people got a job last year, business conditions have rebounded, interest rates are low, households are ahead on their mortgages and the lower Australian dollar is good for tourism and exporters.
He downplayed fears of a Chinese slowdown saying there was a “synchronisation” happening between Australia and the world’s second-largest economy, both moving toward services-led growth.
Although China’s annual economic growth had slowed to 6.9 per cent, there was 50 per cent more purchasing power coming out of China than in 2010, when it was growing at more than 10 per cent, he said.
“We need to get the China story in a bit of perspective.”
– with AAP
