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RE: 新州州长说，虽然加GST不受欢迎，但是是需要加的
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A good artical to read:
Can the Federal Government raise the GST rate (or change the base) without the unanimous agreement of the States and Territories?
The basic answer to that question is yes. But like all good things in the world of tax, the way of getting to that result is rather complicated.
For those of you with long memories, you may recall the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Reform of Commonwealth-State Financial Relations (“Intergovernmental Agreement”). That Agreement between the Commonwealth and the States came into effect in April 1999 and its purpose was to reform the financial relationship between the different levels of government in order to facilitate a stronger and more productive federal system for the new millennium. Sound like a familiar theme? The Agreement contained the principles to be applied to what became known as ‘A New Tax System’, including the abolition of the Wholesale Sales Tax and certain State taxes, the introduction of the GST and the distribution of GST revenue. The Agreement also stated that any proposal to vary either the 10% rate of GST or the GST base would require the unanimous support of the State governments.
The requirement for unanimous agreement in relation to any change to the rate or base of the GST has been enshrined in law within the A New Tax System (Managing the GST Rate and Base) Act 1999. The GST Act itself also contains a direct reference to the principles which became the Intergovernmental Agreement and an acknowledgement that the GST rate and base will be maintained in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Agreement.
So what does that all mean? Essentially, what it means is that the Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas is correct when he says that Victoria could veto any proposal to increase the GST rate. Based on the law currently in force, Victoria or any other State has that power because of the requirement on the Commonwealth to gain the unanimous consent of the States before making any change.
BUT that doesn’t mean that the law can’t be changed. The law that enshrines the principles contained in the Intergovernmental Agreement is Commonwealth legislation. Subject to any Constitutional issues, the Federal Government could, theoretically at least, amend or repeal the legislation that requires the unanimous consent of the States to any change to the rate or base of GST. On one view (a purely personal one), the decision to take a GST rise to the next election is an opportunity to seek a mandate for such a rise from the voters and, if that mandate is received, to try and push through the legislative changes to achieve the desired result, with our without all of the States’ consent.
That of course just leaves the need to get the legislation through the Senate, which is a another issue altogether!
So, as you can see, without the States’ unanimous agreement, any change to the rate or base of GST is a difficult but not impossible task. Many stars need to align between now and the Federal election late next year for any change to actually occur. |
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澳大利亚税务详解 精华版 （三） (2010-1-25) taxfree 
楼主:dootbear
发表于 2015-12-15 11:06
