Via the AFR:
The treasurer has dismissed calls for an increase in the GST to stop young Australians footing the bill for the coronavirus recovery.
The head of a tax policy think tank says the government should up the GST, introduce a land tax and reduce personal and corporate income tax rates.
Tax and Transfer Policy Institute head Robert Breunig told AAP the tax system took more from “economically active” Australians, while retirees paid less.
“What we are focused on is growing the economy,” Mr Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“Of course there will be a debt burden that will be left to pay in years to come.”
There is no doubt that the young are sacrificing more to support the old during the crisis. How to compensate them in the future is a crucial question for economic equity.
Here’s how to do it:
- Reform or cap negative gearing and let house prices fall. Don’t spin this with balderdash about it costing jobs etc. The overall benefits for the young of removing an immense blockage to higher living standards are obvious.
- Slash Peter Costello’s super rorts. These tax concessions are gigantic. Reforming them can tip tens of billions into the budget.
- Deliver a new green deal to reconstruct Australian energy, including gas reservation and a massive decarbonisation push via renewables.
I might add cut immigration to take the pressure off labour markets but that’s going to happen anyway and is cyclical.
The above three steps rewrite Australia’s generational contract with youth without breaking the budget or economy.
As an added bonus, it puts Australia on the path to structural reforms that result in greater industrial self-sufficiency, helping bulwark their freedoms against the growing evil in Beijing.
