INTHEBLACK August 2024 - Flipbook - Page 47
“I guess my instinct is that where an activity is
undertaken that primarily benefits an industry
and the industry wants it to be undertaken,
then a levy is an appropriate way of funding it.”
SAUL ESLAKE, ECONOMIST
BUILDING A BETTER SYSTEM
The Productivity Commission has also
recommended that governments restore
policy discipline to the introduction
of new levies, as well as decisions to
maintain existing levies, by being clear
about their policy purpose and assessing
their costs and benefits relative to available
policy alternatives.
On whether there is scope to unwind
certain levies and integrate them into
the tax system, Robson says it might be
time to ask that question.
“To ask it, and answer it, you need
a framework, and that is what we have
done in our research paper,” he says.
“The extent to which you could consolidate
them and integrate them back into the tax
system is a bit of an open question.
“We suspect that many of these things are
just raising revenue, and they are not doing
anything else. On the other hand, there
could be others that have a very good public
policy justification. The point is, unless you
run your ruler over all of them and ask those
questions, you are not going to know.”
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