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.

Pericles,

There was never any promise to roll back payroll tax in return for the GST. All the taxes that the states agreed to abolish in return for the GST have been abolished. There were only four of them – repeat, four. They were FID, BADT, bed taxes and stamp duty on quoted marketable securities (Reform_of_comm-state_financial_relations.rtf). For some reason, there is an urban myth that all sorts of taxes were going to be abolished, but no one repeating this myth has ever quoted from the original GST agreement – because abolition of those taxes is not in it. No one claiming that the states did not abolish the taxes they agreed to abolish has ever named the state and the tax in the list of four that was not abolished.

There was a commitment to review – not abolish - some other taxes, and as a result some of those taxes have also been abolished, but payroll tax was never in even this list. There was a later agreement, in 2006, to abolish stamp duties on mortgages, leases, and credit and rental arrangements with the last of these taxes to be abolished in 2012‑13, a year we have not even started yet.

Here is the timetable for the abolition of various state taxes.
http://www.budget.gov.au/2007-08/bp3/html/bp3_main-12.htm

The corollary of this argument for GST free "essentials" Is for a increase in tax on luxuries.
Just like it was before we got a consumption tax.
If tampons, deodorant, fresh food, nappies etc etc should be tax free then why shouldnt things like chips, chocolate, alcohol, soft drinks etc etc be taxed more?

The Democrats betrayed their voter base when allowing the never-ever GST to get through, and bought in without a mandate from the Australian people.

It does seem odd that items like feminine hygiene products are not exempt - they are not luxuries. Condoms should be exempt on that basis too, if we are serious about transmission of STDs or HIV. Where does it end? At least the most important essentials are exempt - fresh fruit and vegetables and other non-luxury food items. Although this is probably outweighed by the duopoly of Coles and Woolworths on food prices but that is an issue of competition rather than taxation.

We do need an overhaul of the taxation system - one that does not make tax collection the burden of business, and one that limits tax avoidance or exemptions at the top end.

There are too many rorts with GST - one wonders what the real collection figures amount to, minus the money lost to rorting. There is a huge problem with people lodging fake GST refund claims - millions of dollars a year and not enough tax investigators to keep up with the problem.

Is anyone else as sick as I am of the constant appeals to the PM to adopt political positions because she is a woman? Talk about adding more weight to her saddlebags.

Pelican spot on about the routing of the GST by business, along with all the other tax routing they do. 1,000 extra Tax Inquisitors would pay for themselves with a tidy profit for the fair dinkum PAYE taxpayer. The truth is there are few in Government who will take on vested business interests in this country. The conservatives see business as some kind of 'Mother Teresa' types doing some much good for us all.
Meg Lees now there is a blast from the past wasn't she "keeping the bastards honest" and remember John What His Name and the famous GST on the birthday cake saga.

Thanks Chris C, I stand corrected.

>>There was never any promise to roll back payroll tax in return for the GST.<<

There was a lot of talk about removing "taxes that impede business". But, as you point out, none of the key ones.

Pericles,

I’m happy to oblige. I think the myth that the states did not cut the taxes they promised to cut in return for the GST started when certain politicians pretended that the taxes to be “reviewed” were taxes to be “abolished”. Then it just spun out of control.

Myths are notoriously difficult to remove from public circulation. There are probably still some poor souls who genuinely believe that John Howard changed the definition of unemployment or that Kevin Rudd promised to give “every child” (sometimes “every student”) a “lap top” (sometimes a “computer”).

Pelican,

The Democrats went into the 1998 election promising to vote for a GST. They did what they promised to do and had senators re-elected at the 2001 election. They did not betray their voters. Their demise was due to infighting, not the GST.

Hi Redhead

Women are able to claim on these products if one finds the time to read the tax journal in its entirety.

Kindest wishes.