Beazley Snaps Over Tax

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

10 October 2001

It has become increasingly obvious in the months (Years? Decades?) running up to the Australian election that tax is a sore point for both the Liberal and Labor parties, with accusations, and counter-accusations, criticisms, and counter-criticisms shuttling across the airwaves at an alarming rate.

However, there was surprise when an interview conducted by broadcaster Alan Jones with opposition leader Kim Beazley on the 2UE radio station descended into a spat over the Howard government's flagship GST measures imposed earlier this year.

The interview took a controversial turn when Mr Jones, self-confessedly not a fan of the opposition leader at the best of times, needled Mr Beazley about the fact that the Labor party's pre-election policies appeared to have disappeared from the official website, an accusation which was later proved to be untrue.

However, it was when the subject of taxation was raised that sparks really began to fly, as Mr Jones questioned the Labor leader over his comments during the Aston by-election that Australians didn't pay too much income tax. 'Do you mean to tell me, Alan, that the Liberal party, who you so devotedly support on your program, has just gone through the biggest tax change in Australian political history and they've left us overtaxed?' Mr Beazley asked.

Meanwhile, the Labor party on Tuesday announced a pledge to reveal more of its spending details in a bid for budget honesty, and challenged the Howard government to do the same. The ALP said that among other measures, it would amend the Prime Minister's Charter of Budget Honesty to include in the budget papers an independent report from the Tax Commissioner and Treasury Secretary, identifying threats to the tax base.

However, a spokesman for the Finance Minister, Peter Costello, has dismissed the plan as 'a joke'. 'This [Kim Beazley] is the man who deceived the public as Finance Minister in 1996 claiming a $10 billion deficit was a surplus,' he observed. 'The Charter of Budget Honesty was enacted to prevent anyone ever behaving like Mr Beazley again.'

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