Mr BURKE - 2005-05-03
Your budget papers show that you are again breaking new ground as the highest taxing Treasurer the Territory has ever seen. Whilst you will claim that the economy is booming, could you please provide an answer in terms of per capita taxation, that is, the average amount you would levy on every man, woman and child? Can you explain how it is that your estimate that $1326 per capita is increasing this year to $1466, and how you can reconcile that in the face of record GST payments, doubling of own-source taxation revenue, and explain to Territory families why you are not providing any substantial cost of living decrease to the average Territory family?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, in relation to the cost of living increases he suggested, as I said before, the real answer is in terms of getting critical mass of population so you have a whole range of goods and services delivered on a much more cost-effective, cost-efficient basis, and we are doing that. We have stemmed the turnaround in population and we are now seeing population growth. That will serve us well into the future both in terms of revenue from the Commonwealth, which will in turn assist us to keep prices down. However, when you do get critical mass of population, a whole lot of things come into being.
I talked about the child care subsidy of $3.7m, in there deliberately to keep the cost of child care down. There are no increases in charges, fees, levies or subsidies anywhere in this budget that would impact on families. The subsidy to keep power prices where they are costs around $40m by way of Community Service Obligation to the Power and Water Corporation. Bank fee taxes have gone. The 10 withdrawal fee at an ATM is gone. Of course, there is a range of support for business, which will allow business to continue to grow.
In relation to the Leader of the Opposition’s figures, our Territory tax collection per capita for 2005-06 is estimated at $1474 compared with …
Mr Dunham: That seems to be up.
Mr STIRLING: ‘That seems very high,’ the member for Drysdale says. Go and live anywhere else in Australia, and the average for the other states is $2031. Is this not fairly low? $1474 for the Territory, the average of all the states is $2031. I know where I would sooner be living. It highlights that in 2005-06, the Territory will collect the second-lowest per capita tax revenue after Tasmania, so there is only Tasmania ahead of us in terms of per capita collection. The all-state average is $2031, and we stand at $1474, so keep telling this story. Get out there and tell this story, and Territorians will know how well off they are under this government.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, in relation to the cost of living increases he suggested, as I said before, the real answer is in terms of getting critical mass of population so you have a whole range of goods and services delivered on a much more cost-effective, cost-efficient basis, and we are doing that. We have stemmed the turnaround in population and we are now seeing population growth. That will serve us well into the future both in terms of revenue from the Commonwealth, which will in turn assist us to keep prices down. However, when you do get critical mass of population, a whole lot of things come into being.
I talked about the child care subsidy of $3.7m, in there deliberately to keep the cost of child care down. There are no increases in charges, fees, levies or subsidies anywhere in this budget that would impact on families. The subsidy to keep power prices where they are costs around $40m by way of Community Service Obligation to the Power and Water Corporation. Bank fee taxes have gone. The 10 withdrawal fee at an ATM is gone. Of course, there is a range of support for business, which will allow business to continue to grow.
In relation to the Leader of the Opposition’s figures, our Territory tax collection per capita for 2005-06 is estimated at $1474 compared with …
Mr Dunham: That seems to be up.
Mr STIRLING: ‘That seems very high,’ the member for Drysdale says. Go and live anywhere else in Australia, and the average for the other states is $2031. Is this not fairly low? $1474 for the Territory, the average of all the states is $2031. I know where I would sooner be living. It highlights that in 2005-06, the Territory will collect the second-lowest per capita tax revenue after Tasmania, so there is only Tasmania ahead of us in terms of per capita collection. The all-state average is $2031, and we stand at $1474, so keep telling this story. Get out there and tell this story, and Territorians will know how well off they are under this government.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016