A hike in the GST would be detrimental to Australia's competitiveness in the long run, the Northern Territory treasurer says.
Dave Tollner, of the Country Liberals, says the NT is happy for the GST to remain at 10 per cent, and does not support Western Australian Liberal Premier Colin Barnett in his calls to increase it to 12.5 per cent.
"(It) certainly might help some short term problems but I think in the long run would harm our international competitiveness and be detrimental," Mr Tollner told the ABC on Friday.
"We're taking a position that we want to tighten our belts, we want to reduce spending, at the same time try and maintain services but to get to a position where we live within our means."
But he did call for the federal government to review a Commonwealth Grants Commission decision last year to take $100 million in funding from the NT, saying it was the equivalent to stripping $6 billion from NSW or Victoria.
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The decision was based on census data that showed more people in the eastern states identifying as Aboriginal and therefore receiving more federal funding, but a spokesman for the treasurer's office said it didn't consider the unique issue of the NT's vast geography.
"The way it was formulated didn't factor in the huge issue of remoteness, and how socially disadvantaged Aboriginal people are by living in remote areas," the spokesman told AAP.
Otherwise, Mr Tollner said, he was happy with how the GST was being allocated.
Around 80 per cent of the NT's budget comes from the GST.
