Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

There we go again: ‘We’re for low taxes.’ I had this discussion yesterday with the shadow health minister on Sky television. The shadow health minister invited me to prove that, in fact, the previous coalition government was the highest taxing government in Australia’s history. I am very happy to do that within this chamber of the Australian parliament today. It is clear from Budget Paper No. 1 2010-11, page 10-7, that taxation as a share of GDP was the highest in Australia’s history under the coalition, not once, not twice, not three times but in 2000-01, in 2001-02, in 2002-03, in 2003-04, in 2004-05, in 2005-06 and in 2006-07. That is about eight gold medals for the champion taxers of Australia! The shadow health minister said yesterday, ‘Oh, but not as a share of GDP.’

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