The real point to make about the GST is that it should be applied to all goods and services, with just two exceptions: health (as in medical and hospital services but not goods and drugs, etc) and education (as in education services, not material goods). If this happened, we'd have a much more efficient and effective tax without the large number of distortions imposed on the Australian people as a result of the Democrats tinkering with John Howard's original GST.

What about toilet paper, anti-perspirant, nappies, incontinence pants, body/hand soap and shampoo?

Michael.

Is there any data on how much GST is going into the pockets of Dodgy Business Tax Avoiders. Tradesmen who don't want to give receipts, shops that do likewise. Had some work done on the car "cash mate and just let the quote be your receipt, says Dodgy Mechanic". Funny one, had a repair job done on a musical instrument, was quoted $260 plus GST, and when I picked it up and paid $286 I asked for a receipt, gave me one, but I noticed she used a felt pen to fill it out so there was no carbon copy in the book. Small Business some are so crook!

I want GST free razors; I shave every day.

The ATO could not care that much about GST from small businesses. Anyway you are exempt if your sales are less than $50k. What they wanted and got was getting tax from large service companies like the big 4 accountants who previously paid little if any tax and now probably jointly pay over $1 billion.

And suddenly all the barristers starting paying tax.

It is difficult to see this as anything but special pleading, helped along by a few female sobs - "it's so unfair" - and undoubtedly relying upon the average man's morbid fear of menstruating women.

However, given that the original bastardization of the GST from uniform application to a minefield of exceptions was a campaign largely led, as I recall, by Meg Lees ( a woman), I'm sure there was a good reason for these exceptions not to include feminine hygiene products.

It was, after all, largely thanks to her and her Democrat colleagues that we have not been able to see promised disappearance of a plethora of State Taxes, that to this day serve to strangle small businesses. What happened to the promise to roll back Payroll Tax, for example, a direct tax on employment?

So no sympathy from this quarter, I'm afraid.

Until we have a sensible reform of the entire tax system, all these special cases can simply wait in line.

I forgot to mention condoms in my previous list of items. They're essential health items because nobody wants to spread or get a nasty disease when they fornicate.