Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We think that this is a pretty straightforward proposition. There is annual tax paid by every individual taxpayer. They receive a notice of assessment which indicates how much tax they have to pay in a particular financial year. There is a budget for that financial year. There is a budget outcome for that financial year. You can divide the amount of money that is spent in particular areas by the share that is payable by each individual taxpayer—as I outlined in my comments on the amendments. You should be able to easily assess the net debt position of the Commonwealth in simple terms by deducting the Commonwealth liabilities from the asset position.

When we were in government we had a negative net debt position because the government assets exceeded government liabilities, but under this government we are in the position of looking at about $94 billion worth of net debt in the course of this financial year and, as Senator Joyce has mentioned, $172 billion or thereabouts of government gross debt now.

These are not very complicated amendments. They can easily be dealt with by the government. The Australian Taxation Office will always advise governments to resist additional scrutiny and resist increased levels of transparency and additional reporting requirements—that is well understood. But we want the Senate to make a decision in relation to these amendments. Should the amendments not be successful, we will welcome any consideration that might be given by the Senate Economics References Committee.

We will continue to pursue this proposal for increased government transparency and we hope that the Senate will support our very sensible recommendation to ensure that every individual taxpayer is provided with a tax receipt with an appropriate level of detail—not an excessive amount—showing how their hard-earned money, which is taken from them by the government in the form of taxes, is being spent by the government. We think that this will ensure that governments spend their dollars more wisely. This is in the context of a federal Labor government which over the last three years has been wasteful, has mismanaged taxpayers’ dollars and has imposed massive levels of new taxes over three budgets—more than $40 billion worth of new taxes. The government has imposed massive levels of new debt—$94 billion of net debt during this financial year—and it wants to take another $50 billion worth of state GST revenue away from the states in its constant effort to cast around for more cash to feed its addiction to wasteful spending. I again commend these amendments to the Senate and I hope they will get the support of the Senate.