Category Archives: GST

Housing to be at the centre of NSW budget, with more homes for those in need

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Treasurer Daniel Mookhey foreshadows more money for social and affordable housing while lamenting drop in state’s GST share

Housing will be the centrepiece of the New South Wales budget, with money for social and affordable homes, regional development and essential services to support growth across Sydney.

While the treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, acknowledged there was no quick fix for the crisis, he said he had been listening to experts who called for more homes to help those most in need and stem the brain drain from the state.

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Drop in GST revenue will cost NSW ‘more than Covid’, treasurer says

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Daniel Mookhey says ‘absurd’ carve-up of GST allocations means the state will ‘almost certainly’ lose its coveted AAA credit rating

New South Wales will “almost certainly” lose its remaining top-notch debt rating after an “absurd” carve-up of GST revenue stripped more from state revenue than Covid-19, the state’s treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, said.

The assessment comes about a month after the Commonwealth Grants Commission revealed how it would allocate GST money. NSW complained it would lose $1.65bn even as its population swelled and other states, such as Victoria, got extra funds.

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Albanese signs WA GST pledge on reporter’s arm and signals possible support for state’s nickel miners

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PM says federal government will make ‘no changes’ to Western Australia GST payments, which could hit $50bn over a decade

The federal government is considering “time-limited support” for the nickel industry in Western Australia as it faces growing international competition from Indonesian producers, Anthony Albanese has said.

The prime minister also pledged to maintain WA’s lucrative share of GST payments by signing a promise on a newspaper front page and on a reporter’s arm in marker pen, before encouraging the journalist to get it tattooed on his body.

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Philip Ruddock’s Sydney council challenges legality of GST levies on local government

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Exclusive: Hornsby mayor was a cabinet minister in Howard government when it introduced the tax in 2000

A Sydney council led by the former Howard government minister Philip Ruddock is spearheading a high court case arguing that GST levied on local councils is unconstitutional.

The challenge by Hornsby shire council questions the legality of the goods and services tax it has paid since it was first introduced by the Howard government in 2000.

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Cabinet papers 1998-99: Coalition’s campaign to unleash the GST laid bare

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Tax reform dominated debate, as ministers discussed East Timor and the 2000 Olympics – and resisted climate action

On 1 July Australia’s goods and services tax will have been in place for 20 years. It is uncontroversial in concept, with no major party advocating its abolition. Every so often there are calls for it to be increased from 10% or expanded – calls that are usually rebuffed.

But just how fraught the GST was to introduce is one of the key insights from the release of cabinet papers by the National Archives of Australia, covering the years 1998 and 1999. There were other concerns: East Timor’s independence, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the failed republican referendum, and familiar resistance to doing anything but the minimum on climate change.

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