Page 2241 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 9 May 2012
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forgot that Labor was in power in New South Wales for, what, 16 years? Perhaps he forgot that Labor was in power in Victoria for many years and that Labor had been in power in Queensland for many years. Perhaps he forgets that Labor is still in power in South Australia or that Labor is still in power in Tasmania. It is rich to criticise the states that have just come out of the Labor fold into the coalition fold and say they are not doing enough on tax reform. The ideal time to have reform was when every jurisdiction was governed by Labor, and they could not do it.
Perhaps the Treasurer has forgotten what happened in 1999 in the lead-up to the introduction of the GST. A bit of research would show that all federal, state and territory leaders—a mixture of Liberal and Labor—agreed to the arrangements for introducing the GST. What did this agreement include? Agreement to abolish a number of “nuisance” taxes, such as bed tax, debit tax and taxes on shared transactions, among other things. All the jurisdictions eventually complied with the 1999 agreement, although some had to be dragged kicking and screaming.
One tax on which there was no movement was duty on non-residential conveyancing, and that is still a sticking point. In this context, I note that Mr Barr is seeking national reform, yet at the same time he is proposing to make further changes to the ACT payroll tax regime. We accept and we like reducing taxes; we think it is a great thing. In fact, it was our policy back in 2000 that this should go up in increments till the payroll tax threshold was $2 million, but of course that was abandoned by Labor in their first budget because they do not believe in tax reform.
Mr Barr says there should be harmonisation across jurisdictions, yet he wants to change it, which will make harmonisation of payroll tax in Australia even more difficult. You cannot agree to both and then do something different. I also note that this Labor government is proposing to increase—
Mr Barr: Do you know the differences between rates and thresholds and administration?
MR SMYTH: I am sorry?
Mr Barr: Do you know the differences between rates and thresholds and administration?
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Le Couteur): Members, this is not a conversation. Mr Barr!
MR SMYTH: I do. I am pleased that you want to talk about that. Yes, let us talk about thresholds. Our record on thresholds is much better than yours.
I also note that the Labor government is proposing to increase the payroll tax threshold to $1.75 million. That is the same policy approach the Liberals had back in 2001. It is only 11 years later, but we do welcome it. Probably the effect has been ameliorated, given the impact of inflation over the intervening period.
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