The Queensland government has made its pitch for a bigger share of the GST, arguing its ability to provide services would be compromised under tax reforms proposed by the Productivity Commission.
The Queensland government has expressed "significant concerns" in its response to draft tax reforms put forward by the commission as part of its review of GST distribution among the states.
Responding to the commission's suggested approaches - equalising to the second highest state or to the average - the Queensland government said it and other states' ability to provide an equal standard of services would be undermined.
"Such approaches will result in some states becoming fiscally stronger than others, which in turn may enable them to deliver higher standards of services to their communities," the submission said.
"For Queensland, its large geographical size, significant indigenous population and decentralised population with many regional and remote communities presents challenges in providing equitable access to services including education, health and transport.
"If the two reform approaches canvassed ... were adopted and applied to the 2017-18 GST payments, Queensland's GST revenue would be $729 million and $1588 million lower respectively compared to the current system.
"Such a reduction in revenue would negatively impact the ability of Queensland to provide a similar level of services to the community."
Queensland Treasurer Jackie Trad said the GST options put forward by the commission could see Queensland take an annual hit of up to $2.4 billion to its budget bottom line.
"It's critical the PC and federal government understand this impact on a state as big and as decentralised as Queensland," she said.
In its submission, the state government voiced its support of broader federal financial reforms, and called for greater consideration of ways to match funding to service delivery and expenses.
"This would include review of the use of tied funding by the Commonwealth and the opportunity to provide greater access to untied funding that would give the states increased autonomy in deciding how to provide services," the submission said.
"This could, for instance, include consideration of options such as the Commonwealth providing the states with access to a share of personal income tax revenues as untied funding to replace specific tied funding."
Share
