Prime minister plays down tax reform opportunity at productivity meeting

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

The prime minister has talked down the prospect of major tax reform emerging from its productivity round table, less than a fortnight from the forum at which the treasurer has said nothing will be off the table.
Tax policy will be a key item on the agenda at the meeting, with union bosses and welfare groups already calling for changes to the politically-fraught negative gearing and capital gains tax breaks, while business groups have separately backed the Productivity Commission's recommendations for a cut to company tax rates.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly said he would not rule things in or out before the round table, billed as a contest of ideas as the government seeks to increase productivity and return the budget to sustainable footing.
But Mr Albanese on Thursday played down the prospect of major tax reform emerging from the forum in the short-term, flagging he was focused on what the government has already announced.
"The only tax policy we're implementing is the one we took to the election," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"People can put forward whatever idea they want, and what you'll see is five or six ideas coming forward a day. That's a good thing ... It's not government policy, government policy is decided around a cabinet table."
The comments do not rule out the prospect that new taxes could be implemented after the next election, similar to how the government introduced its proposed tax on large super accounts last term.
In June the treasurer expressed his hopes for the three day summit, telling the National Press Club that "no sensible progress can be made on productivity, resilience or budget sustainability without proper consideration of more tax reform".
A day before the prime minister's comments, in response to a question about negative gearing and capital gains tax changes, Mr Chalmers reiterated that he didn't want to "get in the habit of knocking off ideas before we get in the room".
"I want people to feel like their contributions are valued because they are," he said.
But he also noted the government has not changed its position on tax and that any policy would be decided in a "considered, methodical way" though cabinet.
Mr Chalmers has said he is seeking consensus from participants, though the ABC understands there will be no joint communique at the round table's conclusion.
"I don't pretend that when I stand up ... on the Thursday night of that week that we'll have solved every challenge in our economy or that we'll have fully formed, fully costed, very specific policy outcomes," he said on Wednesday.
"It's not about replacing the important decision-making functions of ministers. It's about testing and teasing out the next steps which build on the substantial agenda that we're already delivering and rolling out."
Labor took its plan to increase taxes on people with super balances over $3 million to the election and in the days leading up to the start of the campaign passed a "modest" tax cut for all workers.
The treasurer has asked that any proposals brought to the forum — to be held at Parliament House from August 19 to 21 — must be budget-neutral or budget-positive.
Liberal senator James Paterson on Wednesday said it was clear the prime minister had reigned in his treasurer.
"I thought it was very pointed the other day when the prime minister said that just because this is a meeting in the cabinet room doesn't mean it's subsuming the role of the cabinet," he told Sky News.
"You don't earn a mandate from a hand-picked group of small experts meeting in the cabinet room. You earn a mandate by taking policies to an election, and this government has no mandate for any tax increases."