“Australia’s main excise tax bases are fuel, tobacco and alcohol. Each of them comes at risk of diminishing over time due to improvements in fuel efficiency, long-term decline in smoking rates and lower alcohol consumption per person, ”the statement said.
While the 2015 Generation Report mentioned the long-term decline in smoking as a problem, it was the first time alcohol use and changes in the country’s car fleet had been mentioned.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the country’s car fleet last week showed 23,000 electric vehicles are now registered, a 62.3 percent increase from last year, with the increase expected to continue, especially as major automakers start producing internal combustion engine vehicles to adjust.
Growth in electric vehicles will eventually remove billions of dollars’ worth of gasoline excise taxes from the budget.Recognition:Steven Siewert
Danielle Wood, executive director of think tank The Grattan Institute, said without a reform of the tax system, workers would do more hard work.
Consideration must be given to replacing the fuel consumption tax with road user charges, expanding the GST, withdrawing inheritance taxes or concessions such as the 50 percent discount on capital gains tax.
“The alternative is to keep taxes on labor income rising as a share of the economy and tax collections, adding to the economic burden of the tax system and adding to the already increasing burden of demographic change on working-age Australians,” said you.
“The GST base is also under long-term pressure because the expenditure for GST-exempt goods and services (housing, health, education) is growing faster than those that are subject to GST.”
Between 2019-20 and 2024-25, excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and gasoline are expected to increase 5.1 percent, or $ 1.4 billion. Personal income tax levies are expected to rise 18 percent, or $ 40 billion, while corporate tax levies are expected to rise 18.5 percent, or $ 15.7 billion.
Chris Richardson, director of Deloitte Access Economics, said the intergenerational report focused on trying to grow the economy, rather than growing revenue challenges for the government.
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He said the tax system would groan under the weight of change, from globalization to smoking rates, without proper reassessment.
“There are some devilishly difficult areas to face,” he said.
“The tax system cannot stand still, partly because of technological changes such as with vehicles, partly because of politics. A settlement is coming. “
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