State cheated of $120m tax

Written By Unknown on Senin, 05 November 2012 | 19.55

AUSTRALIAN businesses avoided paying so much GST in the past year that Tasmania missed out on $120 million -- equivalent to half the state's Budget deficit.

Tasmania's share of the overall GST take was undermined by shonky businesses across the nation which under-paid tax and claimed false rebates, the tax office says.

A new analysis of the likely "gap" between GST that should have been paid, and GST that was actually paid, has been released by the tax office.

A crackdown has seen the gap narrowed in the past decade, but the difference -- worked out by comparing national accounts consumption data with actual GST paid -- is still as high as $3.3 billion.

Analysis shows the state should be getting an extra $120 million.

A State Government spokesman said the figure could equate to about 1000 frontline staff such as nurses, teachers, police and ambulance officers.

Tax Institute senior tax counsel Robert Jeremenko said the lost money was a concern for Tasmania because it placed "a greater strain on the budgets for schools, roads, law and order".

The money due to Tasmania, calculated by the Tax Institute based on Tasmania's share of the tax pie, could have allowed hundreds of nurses and police officers to keep their jobs.

The State Government this year slashed $100 million from the health department and $16 million from the police budget, resulting in the loss of more than 250 full-time nurses and about 75 police officers, plus 60 police service staff.

The Tasmanian Council of Social Service said an extra $120 million in state coffers could make a dramatic difference to the state's poorest residents.

"It's very concerning to learn that the proper amount of GST is not being collected, because community-sector organisations ... are stretched beyond breaking point," TasCOSS chief Tony Reidy said.

He said more than 30 per cent of Tasmanian households were at least partly dependent on welfare and many families had this year been forced to seek emergency charity "for the first time in their lives".

"Agencies are reporting that demand is on a scale they've never seen before," he said.

"Those organisations providing emergency relief -- whether it's food parcels or shopping vouchers or help paying for electricity -- they cannot meet demand, people are being turned away. Send $120 million our way and we would do more good with it than possibly anyone else in the state."

But Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief economist Phil Bayley questioned the size of the reported GST shortfall.

"It's a bit misleading to make an accusation that businesses aren't paying their share," he said. "The ATO has such extensive compliance programs and I doubt if the ATO is missing $3 billion in revenue."


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