TasCOSS today said that any political party that promises to cut payroll tax before the March State Election must outline what services might not be funded.

“We believe that ordinary Tasmanians have a right to know where Tasmanian political parties really stand on State taxes and the delivery of government services”, said TasCOSS CEO Tom Muller.

“The reality is that the debate on land tax has been narrow and self-interested and not about the broader good of the Tasmanian community”.

Mr Muller reiterated the following undisputed facts about State tax:

If people have seen an increase in their land tax from $1,800 to over $10,000 that means their property values have increased from $350,000 to over $750,000.
Property developers see the value of their assets increase because of State Government investment in infrastructure and services to maintain economic, employment and population growth in Tasmania.
The State Budget projects Tasmania to raise more money from gambling taxes than land tax in 2009-2010.
Australia is the 8th lowest taxing nation in the OECD and Tasmania is already the second lowest taxing State in the country.

“Tasmanian businesses should stop pretending that State taxes are a barrier to business investment.”

“The biggest barrier to business investment and productivity is Tasmania’s skill base”.

“The business community can’t have its cake and eat it too. You can’t be focused on cuts to land tax that will deliver a windfall for a very small minority of Tasmanians, while complaining about the lack of skilled workers”.

“If the business community really wants to see outcomes for all Tasmanians it should get behind a massive injection of funds into the Tasmanian education system, which would drive long-term productivity gains for business and better employment and social outcomes for working Tasmanians”, said Tom Muller.

Mr Muller asked Tasmanian political parties if reducing State land tax to benefit only a small number of Tasmanians while potentially limiting the State Government’s capacity to invest in services and infrastructure really is good policy given the following:

Braddon and Lyons are the two poorest electorates in Australia.
Bass, Braddon, Franklin and Lyons are among the 30 poorest electorates in the nation.
34% of Tasmanians are dependent on Commonwealth pension payments.
Tasmania has the lowest workforce participate rate in the country.
Tasmania has the poorest retention and post-school qualifications in the country.
Approximately 50% of Tasmanian adults do not have functioning literacy and numeracy skills.
Over 3000 Tasmanians are on the public housing waiting list.

“Tasmania can’t afford to have a narrowly focused tax debate that does not take into account the interest of all Tasmanians”.

“Let’s have a debate on tax, but let’s debate whether or not Tasmania has sufficient revenue to fund critical services and infrastructure needs.”

“Tasmanian political parties shouldn’t be making commitments to reduce taxes without explaining why they see tax cuts as more important than boosting funding to schools with high rates of absenteeism, funding better public transport services to allow Tasmanians to participate in the economy, or funding literacy and numeracy programs”.

Mr Muller concluded by emphasising that the debate on State taxes shouldn’t forget that gambling revenue is basically a tax on poorer Tasmanians who loose far too much money on the pokies, while land tax is a progressive wealth tax.
Tom Muller