The WA premier has refused to reiterate his election promise made three months ago of no new taxes or tax increases, instead deflecting the issue by saying the state is in a "catastrophic" financial mess.
During the election campaign in February, Mark McGowan promised: "If we're elected, there will be no new taxes or increases on taxes on West Australians, full stop."
But on Tuesday, the premier refused to repeat that statement and gave only a qualified commitment.
"We stand by our commitments we made at the election," he told ABC radio in Albany.
"It's difficult, I must say, because the financial situation is so catastrophic and so dire.
"What we've had is about a $2 billion loss of revenue since the election, so since the election in terms of GST receipts, land tax and iron ore price, we've suffered a $2 billion loss."
WA treasurer Ben Wyatt on Monday also refused to guarantee the election promise was still in Labor's plan, telling reporters the government had to respond to financial circumstances.
Shadow treasurer Dean Nalder said Labor would be breaking an election promise if there were tax increases or new taxes.
Mr McGowan said state debt levels were predicted to go above $42 billion and the deficit was more than $3 billion, which he stressed was inherited from the former government.
He said Labor was looking closely at all levels of spending across government to combat the problem.
"Fees and charges are things that will have to increase because currently the price of electricity, for instance, is not reflective of the cost of supplying the electricity," he said.
"I don't like it, I don't enjoy it, but unfortunately we're going to have to make sure that every level of the West Australian community shares in the burden of dealing with the problem that we face."
The government has floated the idea of replacing a 25 cent fee on each tonne of iron ore in return for a single payment to the state from BHP and Rio Tinto, but the premier said it would only be done by agreement.
"We're not going to breach contracts," he said.
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