I'm afraid Rehctub, I just can't see how your idea of reducing tax so dramatically could work.

If the commonwealth had something like 150 billion less in the budget, what would you suggest they drop.

Currently the PAYE tax take only just manages to pay the welfare bill. Yes granted about 30% of that is probably illegitimate, but they still pay it.

A transaction tax would certainly encourage the cash economy.
A lot more uncomfortable mattresses I think.

Us unemployment is 5.6 % manufacturing is back.
Your TT tax is just a name change from GST with lower income. Goods and services are taxed if you go through a bank or not. You could up GST by eliminating income tax, you can't have one without the other. I think when the GST was created, we were led to believe that GST was going to replace income tax. Seeing that they got away with it no more was said.

A rise in GST would have to come with compensation for pensioners.

Its not that hard to balance the budget without new taxes. Get rid of the private health insurance rebate, the diesel rebate, negative gearing, subsidies to the mining industry and im sure there are plenty of other rorts that can be wiped out overnight.

So Crowie, what you're essentially saying is to get rid of the drivers of our economy.

The diesel subsidy. If you drive our trucks off the road, how do you think we will move our goods, not to mention growing them as farmers are high users of diesel as well.

Negative gearing. I'm still waiting for ANYONE to tell me where the renter will live.

579, the GST, while at 10%, is only ever paid by the end user, as all others get theirs back. A TT taxes monetary transactions and nobody is exempt, except for the odd cash deal, but seriously they are not as common as they were ten years ago.

If you collect $20 from every $1000 spent, and that same $1000 is spent many thousand times a day, the tax would be huge.

It is a long time back but I do not remember anyone saying the GST
would replace income tax.

I think there would have been a lot of talk about that.