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.