A major business organisation has called for a shake-up of the Australian tax system, including a wave of tax cuts to improve the living standards of all Australians.
The Business Council of Australia on Tuesday outlined a three-stage approach to tax reform ahead of a federal election this year.
"Australia is talking about the tax system because it is one controllable factor in a volatile, unpredictable global economy," chairman Catherine Livingstone said.
"Taxation can either accelerate or impede growth - in our case it is increasingly an impediment with an unsustainably high personal income tax burden and an uncompetitive company income tax rate," she said.
The BCA wants the company income tax rate to fall to 28.8 per cent immediately from 30 per cent, then to 25 per cent over the next five years.
The group also wants lower personal income tax rates, with an initial focus on low and middle income taxpayers.
"If our approach is adopted we estimate that in around a decade the Australian economy could be $9 billion bigger from the benefit of a lower company tax rate, and budget revenues could be $2 billion higher," Ms Livingstone said at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Sydney.
The BCA has also called for the replacement of "inefficient state taxes by switching from stamp duties to land taxes, and harmonising payroll taxes".
It also wants the tax system simplified to reduce the compliance burden.
Ms Livingstone said tax reform should "accelerate economic growth, not to raise the overall tax burden to pay for more spending".
"At the same time we must get the rate of spending growth under control otherwise any gains we make on the revenue side will be eroded by expenditure," she added.
Speculation has resurfaced that the federal budget may be brought forward by a week to May 3 to allow for an early election. May 11 is the last day for a double-dissolution election to be called.
