I'm just curious, which other entities are exempt from tax. eg. Do the various Rationalist Associations of Australia pay tax?

How about *all* non-governmental entities which handle money pay tax at the same rate as companies. This is the simplest and easiest system to implement and leaves non room for people complaining about special treatment to others. This would include for example: political parties, non-governments schools, sporting clubs, etc. . It includes the charities, non-profits and NGO's, of which many are actually profitable and thus should be paying tax.

I should point out that in the above I'm only saying that profits (ie: net income) should be taxed, not total income.

This is especially important in the case of charities, where the money that it hands out would be considered an expense. eg: if a charity receives $10,000,000 and hands out $9,500,000 to the poor while spending $300,000 on administration then it has made a profit of $200,000. This $200,000 is what should be taxed, not the $10,000,000.

Thinkabit; the only way to implement a universal tax that everybody pays, is to implement an entirely unavoidable expenditure tax.

This is the only way conceivable to ensure that people not only pay a fair and formerly avoided share; but that no one pays more than they are able to pay.

In other words, your actual total tax impost is tied directly to your affordable expenditure outlay and no more!

And no Im not talking about the cascading GST, which should be among the suite of taxes to be entirely jettisoned; but rather an expenditure tax that includes all expenditure; not just that entered into at a retail level!

Collected as money departs accounts is the way to go?

And as a consequence only the banking fraternity need become unpaid tax collectors; not struggling small business!

And given the sheer size of the current avoidance; (religion, multinationals) bringing everyone into the tax tent is the only way for current honest taxpayers to pay considerably less!

And given there would also be no longer any need to pay for compliance issues!?

Business can pocket the former tax compliance costs, which apparently average around 7% of the average bottom line.

And around 2% more than what they'd need to pay pay in estimated total tax, if we finally obliged everyone to pay a fair share.

And made even easier as a concept, if smart cards were to replace cash in the economy?

Imagine if your total tax bill were actually lower than former compliance costs?

Who would be dumb enough to still pay that money as some sort of futile effort to avoid some tax; and as futile as trying to avoid unavoidable businesses expenses!

This is the only real way to gift real tax reduction!

Currently we pay too much tax just to get a tax return; and this eternal money for nothing, money-go-round, costs the nation/taxpayers billions!

And about as productive as paying someone to dig a hole, then paying someone else to fill it again!

Imagine the actually avoidable cost, if that's six million holes?
Rhrosty.

Currently tax as a proportion of the GNP ( our combined total expenditure?) is around a reported 4%!

Given my proposal would only lift it to around a marginally variable 5% as a proportion of our combined total expenditure.

The most tax we'd be asked to pay would be a marginally variable 5%?

And the tax rate could be microscopically adjusted, to alone control all inflation and far more rapidly than the current method of adjusting interest rates.

This very real tax relief for those actually paying our tax would improve the average bottom line by as much as 30% and household disposables by as much as 25%?

Thereby allowing the imposition of a non contributory super of around an affordable 15%.

Which would be guaranteed by the creation of thirty year self terminating Bonds, created exclusively for investment in profit earning infrastructure (shovel ready toll paying projects, rapid rail, our own national shipping fleet) and affordable housing!

Bulk shipping i.e., remains the most profitable venture on the globe!

And we remain an Island nation currently completely dependent on price gouging foreign shipping to move all our bulk trade goods!

Naturally those avoiding a fair share of tax; are to be expected to construct all the vacuous, obtuse reasons in the world, for avoiding essential tax reform; including the harm that could be done to business; by actually requiring them to pay less total tax!

Caveat Emptor!
Rhrosty.

This article is based on a false premise: it conflates foreign debt with public debt. But foreign debt is the amount borrowed from non-residents by residents of Australia. It has nothing to do with how much our government gets or doesn't get in tax revenue.

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Rhosty, a land tax would be fairer, more efficient, better for the economy and much much much harder to avoid than an "unavoidable" expenditure tax.

And I suggest you look at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-07/tax-to-gdp-ratio-chart/5436302 to see the real extent of our taxes compared with the size of the economy. Admittedly it's GDP rather than GNP, but there isn't a big difference between those figures in Australia.

Definitions:

Income tax (n): The punishment inflicted on people who are not rich enough to avoid it

Corporation tax (n): The penalty suffered by businesses too small to operate trans-nationally