I hear some talk about the nations "revenue" problems. Funny how some things are undiscussible, off the table, not allowed to be talked about, banned in the media.

If there is a shortage of tax then why not extend the GST to share trades? How many billion does the ASX turn over in each year? How much would 10% of that be?

Did you know that about 90-95% of shares are brought and sold by only 10-20$ of share traders. Why is this? well, its because the 80-20 rule applies to the share market just like it applies in nature and many other places.

Of course, the rich and powerful through the mouth pieces they own, will scream from the roof tops about how bad this would be. Know that if you accept such arguments you are effectively accepting that to levy any tax on business is a bad thing. Mind you, if people here knew the banks create money out of thin air, then they would do well to realise that the govt can too using the exact same method. Govt always did this before they gave that right away to the banks.

How you do you think Australia got "built" from after WW2 to the mid 70's if the govt, through the commonwealth bank, did not create money out of thin air?

Read "The Remarkable Model Of The Commonwealth Bank Of Australia" by Ellen Brown, August 4th, 2010

I'm neither rich nor powerful, but I know that applying GST to share trades would be very bad for the economy. Rather than paying the GST and making a loss, most share transactions would simply not be done. And it would make it extremely difficult for companies to raise money on the share market.

Taxing business turnover is generally a bad thing, but the same can't be said for taxing business profits.

The Coalition spent an inordinate amount of time in opposition criticising the Labor Governments spending and economic management, some of which was justified.but much was totally unjustified. In government the Coalition has proven to be just as incompetent economic managers as Labor, if indeed our governments are incompetent to the degree that some will argue.
Taxation policy was made the central focus of the Turnbull governments economic strategy, much of which has been shot down in flames, giving the government little room to move. 15% GST gone, State income tax gone.
The problem is not expenditure, with determination that can be controlled, the problem is one of income. In my view what the government needs to do is stop pussy footing around with business, the big tax avoider's and make them pay their fair share. Collect all the GST payable, including the missing billions, make business pay the billions of tax dollars they are pocketing at the moment. Then take a look at the situation and then argue tax policy.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/ato-warns-60-multinationals-enough-is-enough-on-tax-avoidance-20160210-gmqfrc.html

Hi Aidan,
I wonder if it would actually be so bad for companies trying to raise money? The only time share trades produce capital for a company is at the initial float or on subsequent releases of new shares.

Perhaps new floats could be exempted from the GST, but all regular trading (the vast bulk of share-market activity) should be subject to it, I believe.

I also tend to think that this whole idea of share-trading as a noble pursuit is wildly overblown, but that's probably fodder for another discussion altogether (or a look at Marjorie Kelly's book 'The Divine Right of Capital')

In principle, I also agree with you that taxing turnover is less fair than taxing profits. But the GST is - by its nature - a turnover tax. It is applied at a flat rate to all, regardless of their capacity to pay. So making an exception for share trades seems logically inconsistent.
.

@ Referendumdrivensociety
Thanks for the reference to the Ellen Brown article on the web. An excellent piece from an authority on monetary reform.

It's a pity that more Australians don't appreciate the great work done by Denison Miller and King O'Malley to establish a Commonwealth Bank which served the people first.

Another great source on monetary reform (if you can find a copy) is 'Beyond Economic Treadmill' by Allan R Jones - an Australian inventor, not the radio shock-jock.

The largest share traders are of course our Super Funds, as Australian workers have around 2 trillion$ invested on their behalf, which is more than the whole ASX is worth.

So are you suggesting that your Super Fund should be robbed of GST
money, so that you have less to spend in retirement?