State and Territory Tax Reform

Abstract

The nature of Australia’s federation, including its Constitution, means the Commonwealth controls the principal revenue-raising instruments, but large expenditure responsibilities are left to the states, with the consequent imbalance dealt with by fiscal transfers between governments. The states still raise around half of their own revenue, though, through various tax and non-tax sources, many of which suffer from poor design and have been eroded by interstate competition. This paper focuses on reviews that states, and the territories, have undertaken to improve the quality of their tax systems.

Keywords: tax, economic, public finance, government