ACOSS Warns Australian Election Campaign Should Not Descend Into 'Tax Cut Auction'

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

13 September 2001

The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), cautioned earlier this week that exchanges between the two main Australian political parties should not descend into a 'tax cut auction' in the run-up to the general election.

ACOSS expresses the concerns of many, as tax has been one of the prevailing issues in debates between the opposition Labor party and the government since early summer. Economists have suggested that the government may be able to offer pre-election sweeteners in the form of tax cuts due to a bigger predicted budget surplus than was at first anticipated, but ACOSS president Michael Raper insists that this should not be a priority issue for either party.

'The top priority of the parties contesting the next election should be to leap the chasms between rich and poor, employed and jobless, those with decent housing and those without, that are emerging in our society,' he said.

Estimates of the size of the budget surplus for the 2000/01 fiscal year range from $7 billion to $10.3 billion, and the increase is thought to have come as a result of bumper GST collections. Prime Minister John Howard has downplayed the rumours, but at the same time has hinted that the bottom marginal tax limit could be raised in order to benefit those on low incomes.

Mr Raper released a list of 24 election challenges for the two main parties, aimed at reducing the poverty divide in Australia, and called for the parties to address the inequality of treatment with regards to taxing all of the country's income groups. 'Instead of cutting taxes, the parties should restore the public revenue lost from rampant income tax avoidance by high income earners,' he suggested.

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