House debates
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Tax Laws Amendment (2010 Measures No. 5) Bill 2010
Consideration in Detail
10:41 am
Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source
by leave—I move opposition amendments (1) and (2):
(1) Clause 2, page 2 (before line 1), table item 5, omit “Schedule 7”, substitute “Schedules 7 and 8”.
(2) Schedule 7, page 26 (after line 10), add:
Schedule 8—Providing tax receipts to individual taxpayers
Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
1 After section 174
Insert:
174A Taxation receipt to be provided with notice of assessment
(1) A notice of assessment for an individual under section 174 for the financial year ending 30 June 2011 or any later financial year must be accompanied by a taxation receipt, setting out:
(a) a break-down of how the amount of the assessment was spent on different functions in the financial year; and
(b) the level of Australian Government net debt.
(2) The information in the taxation receipt must be calculated at the time the assessment is made, using the most recently published budget economic and fiscal outlook report or budget outcome report for the financial year. The amount spent on different functions must be calculated by reference to the nominal proportion of Budget expenditure constituted by each function.
(3) A taxation receipt for subsection (1) must, at a minimum, contain the information shown in the following table:
Item | Information to be included in taxation receipt |
1 | The name and tax file number of the taxpayer. |
2 | The amount of the assessment. |
3 | The level of Australian Government net debt at the end of the financial year and at the end of the previous financial year. |
4 | The taxpayer’s share of the Australian Government net debt for the financial year, to be calculated by dividing the Australian Government net debt by the number of individual taxpayers. |
5 | How much of the taxation revenue raised under the assessment was expended for the welfare function, broken down into the following sub-functions: (a) aged pension entitlements; (b) disability pension entitlements; (c) family benefit entitlements; (d) unemployment and sickness benefit entitlements; (e) other welfare benefit entitlements. |
6 | How much of the taxation revenue raised under the assessment was expended for each of the following functions: (a) health; (b) education; (c) defence; (d) foreign affairs and economic aid; (e) recreation and culture; (f) housing and community services; (g) industry assistance and fuel subsidies; (h) public order; (i) transport and communications; (j) labour and industrial relations. |
7 | How much of the taxation revenue raised under the assessment was expended in transfers to the states, territories and local government authorities. |
8 | How much of the taxation revenue raised under the assessment was expended to service public debt interest. |
9 | How much of the taxation revenue raised under the assessment was expended for other public services. |
It’s back! The tax receipt is back, and it will keep coming back until we give Australians the opportunity to hear exactly how their tax is spent by a government that is focused so much on waste. I can see people up in the gallery wondering what the receipt is about. Australians work damn hard for their money, they work incredibly hard for their money. They pay income tax, but in doing so they never get a thankyou note from the tax office, a receipt or any explanation of how their hard earned tax is actually spent by the government.
I take a leaf out of Kerry Packer’s book on this. Kerry Packer said, ‘Why would you give the buggers any more money than you have to give them, because they do not spend what they have properly anyway?’ He said that last time Labor were in government. Then we came in and we spent it wisely. We had surpluses and put $100 billion aside for a rainy day, and Labor came back in and spent it all. It all went.
We went to the last election promising that each year taxpayers who remit their tax to the tax office would receive a receipt. Firstly, I think it should thank the taxpayers—‘The Australian government thanks you for the $20,000 in tax you paid in 2010-11.’ This tax receipt would also detail where your taxes have been spent and the level of Australian government debt.
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