Probably? Henry was also considering a turnover tax, which he alluded to in one of his post review speeches?
Not too dissimilar to an expenditure tax.
However, I favor a stand alone unavoidable expenditure tax for any number of reasons.
The first because it would be unavoidable, and indeed, completely repair the current structural deficit and forever end the destiny of demography.
Collected in a fee free paradigm via the banking sector; would return an averaged 7% to the averaged bottom line of all domestic business.
At 4.8% expenditure tax would harvest far more revenue than now. (A win/win outcome.)
Moreover, this single tax would collect enough revenue, to enable virtually all other revenue streams to be jettisoned, including things like payroll tax, the ubiquitous cascading GST, fuel excise, PAYE and PAYG!? Adding as much as 30% (averaged) to the local bottom line!
The end of the hated and time consuming GST could be compensated for by some different funding models, like the total federal funding for public education and health, all of which could be means tested.
Easy enough, given most households would be as much as 25% better off; meaning, a 15% noncontributory super would become immediately available!
Finally the tax rate could be microscopically varied region by region, to alone control all inflation or stagnation.
Meaning, interest rates could be lowered and left, to turbocharge, the non mining economy!
A brand new franchised peoples' bank, would almost entirely negate any harm, creating alternative, and vastly more productive career pathways, for those displaced by the reform/changes; the only real downside.
Those that claim they don't see how, don't see the sheer size of current avoidance, or the literal trillions being squirreled away in tax havens?
Rhrosty.

Bryan Kavanagh,
your article makes great sense, though in my opinion the Henry tax review is a) too conservative in its negative prognostications about the future; the drags on the economy, as well as its inherent contradictions, will surely be far more dire than it forecasts. b) The primary tax bases it recommends are thus commensurately conservative; as wealth disparity continues to grow, consumerism will increasingly decay as an engine of growth (we'll no longer be able to feed off ourselves) and luxury goods shall have to be taxed more heavily.
In my view, neither side of politics is interested in the review because of its social welfare components, which they are increasingly (and illogically factoring out of the agenda. Though Labor currently is testing the water for a resurgent democratic capitalism, they've lost the stomach for it and neo-liberalism seems unstoppable.
Clearly the tax base has to be doubled and tripled, whereas manically cutting spending, without raising taxes, will cripple the economy.

AUTHERS/QUOTE..<<..PMG-Econtech modelled Australian taxes and found the existing 40% petroleum resource rent tax had no welfare loss for each additional dollar of revenue raised, none at all; therefore, in attempting to "sell" the RSPT mining tax, the Rudd government failed to educate Australians that this would simply bring mining into line with the petroleum tax which has proved in application to have zero social cost.

At the other end of the KPMG-Econtech modelling scale were royalties and crude oil excises: these show a welfare loss of 70 cents for each additional dollar collected, and are the mining taxes to which prime minister Abbott and treasurer Hockey are wedded once the MRRT, an admittedly poor tax itself, is removed.>>

who is kpmg?
e-con o teq?

thing is a simple tranaction tax is all we need
to buy back the fed..[look at what the yanki fed has done[endebited everyone]..BUT ONLY BY LENDING INTO EXISTANCE..MONEY THAT NEVER WAS.

WELL IF GOVT DID THAT DIRECT
WE WOULDNT ALL BE GOING BROKE..TRYING to pay of the intrest via oUR TAXES

TAX TRANACTIONS
or take back the fed
govt is created under the hard constituted RULE..115..a state shall not coin money/AND THE FED IS A DEFACTO STATE[A PERSON/under the act]
govt needs return back to coin money[at its uninflated values [caused by the fed vboom/bust cycles]

cause..all money is lent..into existence/but the intrest we pay..on it was defaulted by someone else..[see that the fed creates money/but not the intrest

but i explained it so many times/before
but govts wont stop this war on the taxpayer/that deflasted the silver gold values from our coin[debasement..is HIGH TREASON/RETURN THE FACE VALUES OF THE COIN..BACK TO TRUE [UNDEFLATED VALUES]..IE add two zeros to coin face.

Any tax review which does not explain why a transaction tax should not be immediately implemented is not to be taken seriously.

A transaction tax would automate the entire tax system. It is simple, intrinsically progressive and could not be broader.

It is inestimable the amount of currently untaxed business activity it would scoop. All the current disincentives to business would be removed in one swoop. All the lost productivity in tax avoidance and evasion erased.

What is the objection but that the current untaxed buying and selling of shares and derivatives would be caught by a transaction tax. Today, the global derivative market is running at 10 times global GDP and threatening to make the GFC look like a small correction.

The need for a transaction tax is urgent and inevitable.

Transaction taxes punish the poor, and those who don't know that KPMG-Econtech modelled the Henry Tax Review recommendations mustn't have seen "Australia's Future Tax System", a thoroughgoing two-year review of our faltering tax regime. Try Googling AFTS before pushing a transaction tax.

no shhhh it..SAYS THE LITTLE Used BLIND FREddy id
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/user.asp?id=49216

kpmg dont like the transaction tax
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=KPMG-SHARE+TRADING

CAUSE THEY BEEN INSIDER TRAding tax free for ever
YOU CANT TRUst wolves..reaping it in big time ON THE CURRENT tax avoidance scam

freDDY..MATE YOUR LIKE QUOTING KPNG..ITS LIE A RED FLAG
how goes your posting histry..two posts THIS YEAR
4 POSTS THE YEAR BEFORE..8 YEAR BEFOre thaT?

AND TO SAY WHAT..THE WORLDS BIGGEST FRONT RUNNING ..DAY TRADER TRADING TRILlions of dollars of transactions cost free..dont like IT

FREDDY..THATS WHY WE LOVE IT
GET IT?

blind freddy can see the bleeding obvious
dont tax us..here tax these guys..not us..

its pathetic
time yA PAID SOME TAX..UNLIKE you leeches....whilE HEAPING EVER MORE Burden..on anyone..but you ..

and you get the TAX-free Deductible lunch.. ON US yet again
your one POST REVEALS MUCH..THEY LOOT AND PLUNDER YOU TOO/UNLESS YOUR just a computer troll..or paID SHILL..PAY THE RENT MATE.

match those of the Chinese) in order to keep turning a profit.
Bryan kavanagh,
A Flat Tax would very quickly put those greed mongers back on a level playing ground. Pay chinese wages & pay the same tax rate as everyone else. If it's not an agreeable profit then up your talents. Do not keep relying on limp-wristed bureaucrats to let you off the hook all the time.

indy/mr flAT TAX..AT WHAT STAGE DOES THIS FLAT TAX HAPPEN
[IS IT ONLY ON WAGE EARNERS..[IE a wage tax]
or is it only on dividends..or at point of sale
thiNG IS DEAR BOY YOUR BEING CLOSED MINDED

FLAT TAX IS A BOBBY HORSE
KPMG would love it..they just pick and chose an income stream..that isnT TAXED..or that never acxtually cashes in any taxable cash flow stream

transaction TAX IS A PENNY TAX..ON THOSE moving money
the only fair tax..asa lets face it [those mosT CLEVER GUYS IN THE ROOM/WE FED HOUSED EDUCATED/NOT THE COOPERATE TAX AVOIDING PLUTOCRACY/EXPLOITING THEIR KNOWING.

doppleganger/THERE IS nothing original..in your mantra
how do we tax those 85 blokes who just watch our bailout cash roll into their secret tax free trusts/MATE YOU HAVE TO REALIZE FLAT TAX ISNT a REVENUE STREAM..UNTILL THEY KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR AND AUDIT THE WORTH OF YOUR ASSETS

JUST LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS
JOBS JOBS JOBS HERE COMES THE MATERS MUSTER..TO TAKE 10 PERCENT..OF ALL YOU THOUGHT YOU HAVE.[ITS THE MINDLESSNESS OF YOUR INSANE/MANTRA//like you think your solved 'it all'..by saying flat tax..[how by door knocking?]

how can we trust any claim
what do we do..if liars lie?

better bankers just move 2 percent/per cash movement
[why is the world wide web full of shills?..defending their tax free status?..thier special intrests/..their insane mindchatter/mantra]

the only fair solution/meeting of minds..is tax some point
i say at the point its PAYED..INTO A MONEY ASGENT[AT 2%..]

YOU SAY 10 %..WHERE?
wage earners/bank interest/SHAREHOLDER/HOUSE Prices.
im going to ignore your insane flat/lax/mantra..BECAUSE..CLEARLY..crazy people got closed MINDS

oug,
it could be made a set percentage across the board. Stuff the writing off. There's no way of a 100% compliance, to think that is simply stupid. The major monies are bank transfers or other traceble means & that's where it can be collected and, you'd get a lot fewer people getting away with crook schemes. If you really want to argue about the odd loop holes left over you'd better start a thread of frivolous arguing.
I'd imagine that someone who paid tax on an aquisition will make sure that the next aquirer also pays his dues, that's the kind of greed that is good.

The fallacy behind driving down wages is that people need to be paid enough to consume the goods they produce. When the entire planet exists on subsistence wages, we cannot afford to consume goods produced so the world spirals into poverty.

Perhaps this is the Greens ultimate orgasm of a pristine environment where only they and a few elites will enjoy mother nature.

Arjay,
I don't see lower Australian wages as "driving" them down as much as I see it to make Australia competitive again. A lower Dollar does not mean a lower living standard. It only means the less deserving will get less & the performers will get enough to keep the incentive to perform. Due to Unionism many Australians have lost the focus on value for money or reward for effort. Australian workers have been out-priced by the Unions & those Unions are now keeping a suspiciously low profile.
We can maintain & quite possibly even raise the living standard here if only we can get a level Tax playing field. When it comes to personal financial gain Australians appear to have a conspicuous absense of patriotism.

Freddington
Clearly you don't understand what is meant by a financial transaction tax. Your comment that it would unduly burden the poor makes entirely no sense. If you possess a serious objection then express it.

A financial transaction tax cannot punish the poor as the poor will clearly transact less. On the other hand, all business activity, all loans, share purchases which are not the usual business of the poor would not escape the net.

The reviews you point to do not seriously consider a broad implementation of a financial transaction tax.

The ability to instantaneously collect tax as financial transactions are completed, the efficiency of such a method, the subsequent obsolescence of tax planning, quarterly lodgments, annual lodgments, unnecessary trust funds and other avoidance schemes all evaporate.

The system we have and the manner in which we conduct it does not reflect the digital realities.

Only Accountants, Tax Office Employees and derivative speculators have just cause to object.

Individual. In 1955 GMH in the USA paid it's workers adjusted for inflation $37 per hr in todays money. Walmart pays its workers an average of $8.80 per hr today.

We have had massive improvements in technology thus efficiencies. Why do the super elite need more money ? The whole planet should be increasing wages so we once again have a large middle class.

Arjay,
What is really required is something resembling some balance in the game. Tax is probably the single most factor in preventing a level playing field. There's no reward for effort, only for connivance & deceit & gross unfairness. There's no better example than the public service & the "writing off" rort.
Unless we rectify those two to a morally acceptable level it is pointless to even discuss wages.
Rich movie Stars ? Well, rehctub they definitely didn't get rich from my money & the likes of me. I suppose since stupidity is not a criminal offence we can take comfort that the fans get punished via their wallets by their mindless devotion to the celebrity stars. There wouldn't be a single mega rich star if people didn't go & spend their money on them. But, just as we can't stop stupidity we can't stop stupid people from stupidly blowing their dough.

One Tax to Rule them All: A universal
Automated Payment Transaction Tax

How it would work: remove all income tax, GST, sales tax, Company Tax...

Every financial transaction between any 2 accounts would attract an instant fee of 0.35%. Thus an employee paid $1,000 would have $3.50 deducted from his deposit. The employer would have $3.50 deducted from their account. As the employee spent their $996.50 they would have a further $3.49 deducted straight into government coffers.

Does not sound like much, but a loan of $100,000 would attract $350 and each repayment a small fee again. Purchases and Sales of all commodities, consumer goods and services constantly clicking over.

Share buys and sells, derivatives, currency transactions, large corporate buyouts, all raising of capital - all currently virtually exempt from taxation would be picked up.

NO TAX RETURNS, NO DEDUCTIONS FOR 90% of citizens and businesses.

The efficiencies are irresistible and intrinsically universal and progressive. It ticks all the boxes for a good tax.

PROBLEMS: encourages Cash economy as the only means of avoidance
SOLUTION: Penalty rate for Cash withdrawal and deposit but this is a red herring - $0.35 cents in a $100 dollars why would you bother.

Some claim, a transaction tax hurts the poorest the most? Well, only as an add on, that simply cascades through the length and breath of the economy, forces the cost of living up and adds immeasurably to the current convoluted complexity!
We already have the GST, and that was brought in to replace corporate tax, that is no longer paid by those who have off-shored and rotated/repatriated profits through tax havens or foreign parent companies.
And that clearly cascading GST impost hurts the poorest the most, who patently have nobody downstream to pass it on to.
I'm almost certain every poor person and those living in struggle street, would gladly trade the 10% GST, for a much broader expenditure tax of just 4.8%, even more so, if it was virtually the only tax collected from anybody. Nor would they miss fuel excise, which adds to the cost of almost all goods and services, which impacts the hardest, who can least afford it. (There are over a million poor people living in Britain, who can no longer afford to heat their homes or pay current energy charges; a position only ever aggravated by their VAT!)
Yes there would be losers; arguably only those who earn an entirely unproductive income, as tax practitioners, or as part of the 5,000 strong ATO, which like the rest of the unproductive and costly tax industry, would be made completely redundant by my suggested and long overdue reform and simplification!
Hence all the outraged screeching, the world owes us a living white noise; and endless false and fatuous obfuscation.
Self evidently, the only thing that prevents real economic/tax reform and restructure, are powerful vested interests, and their political lackeys?
Rhrosty.