PM Transcripts

FOR PRESS: PM, No. 27/ 1968
ZTAMF RECEIPTS DUTY
Statement by the Prime Minister, Mr John Gorton
The Prime Minister today released the text of correspondence
( attached) between the Commonwealth and the States on the question of
the Victorian State Receipts Duty legislation as It applied to incomes.
The Prime Minister said that the Commonwealth did not
object In principle to the extension of State Taxation into the general field
of business receipts or business turnover provided this was not carried to
the point where It could significantly affect the carrying out of Commonwealth
policies or revenue collections.
But he emphasised that the Commonwealth believed that
State Receipts Duty should hot be collected on wages or salaries and had
reached this belief after careful consideration of possible effects on I
taxpayers and on the economy should this form of taxation become established
and Increased. He said It was true that a State Tax on wages and salaries
at the rate of one cent in ten dollars Is not, In itself, a major impost but
it Is inconsistent with the principle of uniform income tax, Is contrary to
the conditions under which the Commonwealth is providing general revenue
grants to the States, and could be extended to lead to a situation where this
type of income tax might be Imposed by the States on a significant scale.
He said the Commonwealth could not stand by and permit
this to happen because the Imposition of income tax, and the rates of Income
tax imposed, have major implications for national economic and social
0 policies applicable throughout the whole natiork and the Commonwealth
could not allow them to be Impaired.
He said he was sure that the majority of Australians had
no wish to return to the dual Income taxation system which existed before
the introduction of uniform income tax.
CANBERRA, 4 March 1968