Crook says: “Reverse the rip-off”
Author: Tony Crook
Published on: 03-March-2010
The Nationals’ Federal candidate for the seat of O’Connor Tony Crook has condemned changes to the GST revenue formula, saying WA is being ripped-off.
The Commonwealth Grants Commission has changed the formula for dividing the $45 billion pool of GST revenue, slashing Western Australia's share from 8.1 to 7.1 per cent, which translates to a loss of $443 million.
Mr Crook said when the Federal Liberal Government introduced the GST back in 2001 Australia was sold the policy on the premise that all GST receipts would be returned to the state of origin.
“As we now know, this has never been the case,” Mr Crook said.
“WA will get just 7.1 per cent of national GST receipts next year, despite being home to more than 10 per cent of the nation's population.”
“WA is beefing up the bottom lines of financial basket-cases such as NSW and Victoria,” he said.
Under the new regime, NSW will get an additional $1 billion while Victoria will gain an extra $872 million. WA will receive just 68¢ in every dollar of GST it contributes, while Queensland and Victoria both get 91¢ and NSW will receive 93¢.
WA did claw back $264 million in special infrastructure payments, but will still record a net loss of $223 million on overall GST receipts in 2010-11, compared with this financial year.
Mr Crook said WA was paying a high price for being the nation's economic engine room.
“The Federal Government will say the states were supposed to reduce taxes so that all GST could be returned, which may be a valid argument in some cases,” he said.
“The WA Government could comply by immediately cutting payroll tax and receive extra GST payments from the Federal Government.
“Payroll tax is effectively an anti-employment tax; businesses should not be penalized for employing people and payroll tax should be axed.”
Mr Crook said our WA Senators and Federal MPs have done little to represent our State and their electorates’ best interests because they are constrained by party politics.
“This GST rip-off is the Federal equivalent of what was happening in West Australia prior to the last State Election, where the bulk of Government spending was focused on the metro-area and not the regions. Other states are getting the lions share and WA – ‘the cash cow’ – is missing out.
“WA needs to let Canberra know, via our elected representatives, that we are not happy. The Nationals WA will take that message to Canberra.” Mr Crook said.
“If the Federal Government wants to continue receiving massive financial windfalls from WA, they need to ensure critical infrastructure projects go-ahead and services are at the highest level.”
Mr Crook said he will work to reverse the rip-off and get a fair deal for WA.
