ECONOMY – TAXATION

GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST)

POLICY:

The Christians for Community is opposed to any increase in the GST.

The Christian for Community is opposed to any broadening of the GST.

Any increase to the GST, let alone the suggested 50 per cent increase, will inevitably be detrimental to the many people and families whom are already struggling to cater for their household needs and costs.

The proposal to broaden the GST to cover the items which are currently exempt, such as fresh food, is proof that the government has absolutely no concern nor consideration to the long-term health effects of such radical measures.

The C4C believes good accounting practices and a reduction of the wasteful expenditure practices of government over the past decades has caused major challenges in the funding and delivery of health care and other essential services and so before we consider a rise in any taxes we must manage expenditure in all areas of government and close the many loopholes in the tax act to prevent the tax avoidance practices of many large companies, especially the international and or foreign companies that pay little or even no tax to the Australian tax office. The wasteful proposed government’s grants infrastructure to assist Adani Coal mining proposal to get off the ground must be totally stopped and any such proposal must never be allowed in the future.

We therefore propose that the auditor General do a full independent “layman understandable” analysis of the government taxation income, including estimates of potential avoidance schemes, and expenditures so a complete picture of the true accounts can be seen and understood by all Australians who want to know the true state of the financial position of the Government.

The C4C strongly opposes any increase to the GST as it will be detrimental to the everyday Australian people who struggle to maintain a decent standard of living for their families.