We of the 'Never Ever': The History of the Introduction of a Goods and Services Tax in Australia

Abstract

Value-added Tax (VAT) has become one of the most pervasive tax instruments across the developed and, increasingly, the developing world. However, despite broad-based consumption tax reform dominating the Australian taxation agenda from the 1970s onwards, Australia did not introduce VAT until 1999 with the enactment of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999. This article analyses the protracted and controversial history of the introduction of an Australian VAT. It concludes by considering how politics can help explain both this specific history and tax reform outcomes more broadly.

Keywords: Value-Added Tax, Tax, Fiscal Policy, Tax History

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K19, K30, K34, K39