The thirty year problem: The politics of Australian tax reform

Abstract

Taxation policy has assumed a prominent position in Australian politics in recent decades. From the National Taxation Summit of 1985 to the bitterly contested 1993 federal election and the Howard Government’s historic implementation of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2000, taxation issues have never been very far from the news headlines. In many ways political scientists regard this as inevitable because taxation is among the most coercive of government activities. By its nature taxation requires governments to weigh up economic, ethical and political considerations when determining how to distribute the tax burden across society. Even when these difficult distributional questions have been answered, policy makers have to confront a range of technical questions concerning compliance and administration. Such questions are inherently problematic.