Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Cook for his question. When the government introduced the GST in 2000, it replaced wholesale sales tax, bed tax, financial institutions duty, bank account debits tax, stamp duty on marketable securities and a whole raft of other taxes which most of the states are continuing to abolish. We cut income taxes in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005. The latest OECD report released overnight showed that of the 30 OECD countries Australia has the eighth lowest overall tax burden.

Interestingly, Australia compares very favourably on average wages with the developed world, including the United States. In US dollars, after tax and the application of what is called the tax wedge, Australian single, average workers have a net wage of $US28,000—the seventh highest net wage of the 30 OECD countries and higher than the comparable US wage of $24,206. In other words, in US dollars after tax, average workers are better off in Australia than average workers in the United States. In fact, the average Australian worker takes home more pay. This also applies to single-income couples with two children. For Australia, the net income was $32,816—

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