Could our naïve new chum Labor government be even more stupid than it has been so far.

Obviously from their current actions, not one of them progressed past primary school arithmetic, hence their inability to understand what they are doing. However surely they have employed some advisers who can add 2+2.

Just a quick glance at the figures from the grants commission will show that the 2 mining states are being ripped off mightily, with way less than half of the money paid in GST by their citizens coming back to those 2 states where it was collected.

Instead most of it goes to the 2 failed states, South Australia & Tasmania, to prop them up because of their chosen failings. Both of them refuse to exploit their own resources, while bludging on the mining states, & receiving way above a fair share of the GST revenue. The successful states are expected to pick up the cost of the bloody minded green attitudes, that keep these 2 failures poor.

Is it really possible that our bunch of fools, & those in WA could go along with increasing this GST rip off of their citizens, to fund this wealth transfer from success to failure.

If we still taught our kids enough math for them to understand the system, it could never happen. I guess that's why governments have allowed the dumbing down of our education system, to all our cost. It certainly shows this bunch are products of recent changes in education.

Hasbeen I have some bad news for you. There is no "new chum labour government".
It is and has been a very new chum train wreck of a liberal government for just over the last two years.
Now that's why we are in such a mess. It's because people like you ,who can't tell which party is in power and voted them in.
But not to worry they will lose at the next election and someone else, ANYONE else, will take over and straighten things out again.
They will not even bring in knights and dames to do it

Yes it is a Turnbull initiative but most consider him to be Labor. GST is a tax on the consumer. Our financial market of currency trades, derivatives and shares turns over $135 trillion per yr. This is due to high frequency computer trades. Just a small tax of .01 % or one dollar in $1000 would raise $135 billion pa. We could reduce our taxes.

Problem is though, Turnbull is ex Goldman Sachs and he toes their line.

Well thank you Robert, for confirming what a dill you are.

Just what is it you don't understand, about my mention of mining STATES?

Perhaps you don't understand that the population pays the GST, but the STATES get the money returned to them. Well that's the idea. However after the grants commission have monkeyed around with it, very little is returned to the successful states, it is wasted in keeping the failures going.

You obviously don't realise the states have to agree with any change to the GST, just one clever thing John Howard did to prevent a blowout in the cost of GST to the population. He reckoned that richer state governments would see what a bad deal it was, & not agree.

Unfortunately he had never even dreamed, even in his wildest nightmare, that such a hopeless bunch as our girls club here in Queensland, could ever be elected to government.

Their spending is so wild, & so stupidly aimed at vote buying, that it is as if Rudd has been reborn, in a skirt.

Hasbeen;

Ah that explains it all, you are from Queensland.
I should have known from the "intelligence " of your posts.
For your information it is not a facility of the net to provide the source of posts without a great deal of effort, but then you would know that would you not?

Hasbeen,

I am strongly opposed to a GST increase, but there is no need to resort to your disingenuous claim that SA refuses to exploit its natural resources.

As in all states, it's the private sector who exploit the natural resources. As in all states the government sets environmental restrictions which limit what mining can go ahead, but they do not substantially affect the amount of mining.

There is quite a lot of mining in SA, but it hasn't reached the lucrative stage that it has in WA. The RBA pays little attention to SA when they set interest rates, hence interest rates and the dollar are too high for SA, and the Federal government are providing too little in compensation. Historically SA's response to the problem has been to set its wage awards lower than the other states, but the Federal takeover of industrial relations by the Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments has made that impossible.

Once commodity prices pick up and the expansion of Olympic Dam goes ahead, the SA economy will start to become comparable to our other mining states.

Arjay's on the money, a financial transaction tax. Not just on the traders, but everyone.

We should do away with income and company taxes, along with the GST and just have a flat tax of 2%, $20 per $1000 for all other transactions then adjust the rate according to need for trades etc.

Why won't anyone go there!

I could sure use the extra $40 odd K a year, not to mention the reduced work load, all unpaid of cause.

At least one of those posting does not understand the purpose of a federation. In the USA, some states get $2 back for every dollar of federal taxes collected in that state. Several of the or more prosperous states gets only about 6o cents per dollar collected.

In every federation, in particular periods of stress such as after major storm events, all states and citizens help out.

In Australia citizens in high population states contribute more numbers to the defense effort, particularly in times of actual warfare. For that reason there is a fairly persuasive argument that the resources of Australia are held by states on behalf of all Australians.
This is the problem of the Euro zone. It is a monetary union without a proper federation. The previous sovereign countries still act as though their situation has not changed.

Aidan, Foyle, the Labor South Australian governments have made the exploitation of it's uranium impossible, just to buy a few green votes. It continually demands productive irrigation water be bought from irrigators in working states, & let run down stream to fill their artificial water sport lake with fresh water, where nature filled it with salt.

Tasmania has prevented the exploitation of it's timber for both sawn timber & paper production. It has refused to harvest it's water, & produce the cheap power that could have kept smelters in business, & develop other industry.

None of this is nature at work, or bad luck, it is sheer bloody mindedness by the green blob, & those who depend on their vote to be elected.

Given that they chose not to earn their own living, I fail to see any justification for them to receive a living from the hard work of others. This is simply the entitlement mentality we see with dole bludgers carried to a ridiculous level of state bludgers.

Still it matters not why Queensland & WAs GST is diverted to these failures, the fact is that's what happens. Any government in either state would have rocks in it's head, if it agreed to an increase in GST. It will simply take more money out of these economies, gifting it to the failures, at a time when their own mining income is diminishing.

Yes a Turnbull idea, showing just how like the ratbag Rudd he is. We can already see the catastrophe looming, with a lefty twit as Liberal leader. The Muslim take over is looking more inviting every day.

Turnbull is a smiling assassin, I knew he couldn't be trusted.

Now I notice the cost of generic drugs will increase from Jan 1 as paracetamol is set to be taken off the PBS.

I suppose we should be thankful of the TPP for that.

State or Territory Share if GST were distributed on an equal per-capita basis 2014–15 relativity 2014–15 actual GST share after adjusting by the relativity.

NSW 32.00% 0.975 31.20%
VIC 24.92% 0.88282 22.00%
QLD 20.30% 1.07876 21.90%
WA 11.16% 0.37627 4.20%
SA 7.14% 1.28803 9.20%
TAS 2.20% 1.63485 3.60%
ACT 1.62% 1.23600 2.00%
NT 1.04% 5.66061 5.90%

Source: Parliamentary Lbrary estimates based on Australian Government, Federal financial relations: budget paper no. 3 2014–15, Table 3.7.

Western Australia’s above average revenue raising capacity drives its fiscal strength … The relatively low fiscal capacities of South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT stem mostly from below average capacities to raise revenue while Queensland and the Northern Territory face very high costs of providing services.

Hasbeen,
"Foyle, the Labor South Australian governments have made the exploitation of it's uranium impossible, just to buy a few green votes."
That accusation is baseless!

As for the Lower Lakes, for seasonal fluctuations the storage capacity is more than the normal seasonal flow fluctuations – it's only due to the combination of prolonged droughts and greatly expanded irrigation that there's a problem. Of course with hindsight we can say it was a big mistake not to keep them as salt water. But the ecosystem has adapted to fresh water.

Tasmania's restrictions on timber harvesting are the result of timber industry mismanagement. And though one environmentally devastating dam proposal was blocked in the 1980s (by the FEDERAL government), Tasmania does not refuse to harvest its water. But even in Tasmania, the amount of rainfall is limited and droughts do occur. I wasn't aware its smelters had gone, though.

"Given that they chose not to earn their own living, I fail to see any justification for them to receive a living from the hard work of others. This is simply the entitlement mentality we see with dole bludgers carried to a ridiculous level of state bludgers."
Typical privileged whinger! At both state and individual level you misinterpret genuine problems obtaining work as a refusal to work. You fail to understand that current recipients are likely to be future contributors! The rest of Australia was subsidising WA for most of the 20th century.

"ny government in either state would have rocks in it's head, if it agreed to an increase in GST."
That much is true. If GST is increased, the Commonwealth will cut other payments to the states, and ultimately they'd be no better off.

We do not have an expenditure problem in Australia, we have a revenue problem. Both large and small business are grossly evading their taxation responsibilities.
It has been well publicised, the billions of dollars that business is ripping off through clever manipulation, and in the case of many small businesses stealing tax revenue through failure to pay over GST, running the cash economy, avoiding their obligations with company and income tax etc.
Tough talk from the government is not going to solve the problem, only action will do. If the government decides its all too hard, then I don't see why ordinary working Australians should carry the can for these business crooks through a hike in the GST!
The Liberal rhetoric that they are a low tax government is a lie, low tax for their business mates, whilst shifting the tax burden onto workers and pensioners!

I'm getting heartily sick of Western Australians banging on about not getting their 'fair share'.

Pretty well since its inception we in the east had been propping their state up. All those decades of sending bucket loads of grant money to keep it afloat doesn't seem to matter a jot. Royalties from the Bass Strait fields was part of the funding that provided annually up to an extra $30,000 per person in WA. There might have been a few murmurings about the distribution but nothing like the belly aching we are hearing from the West. Most just saw it as a necessary part of moving money where it was needed to provide all Australians with services.

When Labour tried to secure some of that boom money from the huge profits of the big miners WA circumvented it by increasing state royalities by hundreds of millions of dollars. When the mining tax was abolished the royalty increases stayed.

Because of the mining boom WA wants the formulas regigged in their favor. No doubt when the boom peters out back they will come with their hands out.

What a greedy bunch!

What garbage Steely.

For decades Qld WA & to a minor extent Tasmania & South Australia were ripped off by import duties making everything they bought ridiculously expensive. This was to support industrial jobs in the south eastern states NSW & Victoria. This rip off went on for far too long'

We then saw decades of SA & Victoria supported by grants to industry, particularly the car industry. Now we see billions wasted with the most inefficient ship building bunch on earth in South Australia.

We still see it in the bloated university sector, clustered in the south east as it is.

To say the capital of over paid bureaucrats, Canberra, should be given extra help shows the handout mentality at it's zenith.

You lot are very lucky Queenslanders & even WA folk are so easy going, or they would have seceded years ago & left the rust bucket states to whither away.

Paul, companies pay the exact amount if tax they are required tp pay and if the taxation laws are inadequate, then revise the laws.

However, prior to doing that you should first weigh up the pros and cons of such changes as while some companies may not pay as muchbtax as you would like, they generate a lot and, considering the cost if doing business here, changes may just be to our detriment.

In other words, be careful what you wish for.

The other interesting point is that those predicting the increases in revenues this new tax will generate, is that they assume there will be no change in spending patterns.

But, nothing will change the fact that any increase will only effect those who have already paid their taxes, the consumer, as businesses claim their tax back.

Butch,

Are you saying there are no businesses out there who are not illegally pocketing the GST? The cash economy, one of the worse offenders for that are the small retailers who fail to declare income. Some years ago it was estimated $7 billions in GST was not being paid to government. Granted, multinationals have the resources to avoid tax in Australia, that has been well documented. It may be "legal" but is it fair? Even Comrade Turnbull has his dosh stashed away in the low tax Cayman Islands

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-attacks-malcolm-turnbull-over-investments-in-cayman-islands-tax-haven-20151014-gk8pg9.html

Turnbull's claim of compensation for all does not apply to self-funded retirees, I'll bet.

The extra 5% GST will simply rob those who have paid top dollar tax rates during their working lives as they move into retirement. Cunning move, getting self-funded retirees to subsidize pensions.

GST. It's good for Australia, it's good for jobs.

Turnbull might be talking 15% now but if he gets re-elected it will probably go a lot higher. I think it should be 20-25%. Give it to 'em Turnie! Hit 'em where it hurts mate!

If you want to avoid paying GST then you'll just have to start doing what the Chinese in Australia are doing already: Doing business on a cash only basis and paying employees cash in hand. That's it China mate, don't pay any taxes and suck up all the free health care and education services you can get your hands on.

Mr Opinion, that's just plain stupid.

Paul, yes, I agree there are a lot of small businesses out there who pocket the GST, but they can come unstuck if they claim their input credits so to some extent it balances out, but it's definitely a concern.

As for large corps being fair, just remember, they do business in a hugely expensive environment.

In any case the GST is a very unfair tax as it only taxes those who have already either paid tax, or don't earn enough too pay tax.

We should be commissioning a study into taxing money, not spending, as spending only occurs once.

Dear rehctub,

If you think that's stupid than wait until Australia has a majority Chinese population in a couple of decades from now. That's when you are going to start seeing some really stupid things happening.

I'm with you on that one Mr Opinion.

The Chinese are very clever and realize two things. One, they won't be able to feed their people in two decades, and two, we won't be able to afford the workers to work our own land.

Increase the GST to 20% immediately.
Increase levies by 50%,Currently Labor controlled outer western Melbourne residents have to pay excessive Western water rates.Plus pay City West Water levy to pay for parks.Plus pay the world's highest council rates (on a negative property price increase for a decade.)Outer western councils want to pay for new roads etc. so developers can make bigger profits.
Thoughout Australia Rural councils are increasing rates sometimes 50% per year.
A Bush Block in NSW was valued at $1800,yet the council has asked for $6000 in rates in six years?
Yes Australia has gone mad.
Five PM's in six years,or should that be Presidents.
Turnbull and Shorten are the same person,More and more tax,more and more into the Family Trust.
Governments seem to think it is a bottomless pit.The Mining industry knows there is a bottom to every pit.

Brock too many rural people choose that way of life yet expect all the mod cons. User pays i say

As for the rest of your post im with you.

Now Turnbull and the LNP are telling everyone that they didn't bring up the question of extra GST.

That's alright Turnie. We know you just realised GST is going to be an election loser and that you'll wait until after the election to increase it.

That's playing it smart Turnie. Get in first then hit everyone with the GST increase until they are on their knees and screaming in pain. Show them exactly what you think of them Turnie.

Dear Hasbeen,

Those are ludicrous arguments especially this one;

"We still see it in the bloated university sector, clustered in the south east as it is."

What rot!

That sector pulls in more export dollars than all the mines in WA put together and employs 5 times as many Australians for each of those dollars.