In a comment article published in today’s edition of The Australian, tax partner Shaun Cartoon describes the lack of political will to undertake serious tax reform in Australia as a “national tragedy”.
“Instead, as the current federal election campaign has laid bare, tax debate in this country has been reduced to retail politics – modest gestures designed for immediate appeal rather than long-term reform,” he writes.
However, according to Shaun, the greatest danger posed by the “leadership vacuum” is that it invites fringe parties to dominate the tax reform narrative.
He warns that the Greens’ plan to reshape Australia’s tax system is “a gory platter of economically destructive, wealth-punitive taxes that would kneecap investment, incentivise capital flight, and ultimately reduce the tax base they purport to expand.
While it’s tempting to dismiss the Greens’ platform as performative policy designed to stir applause on social media rather than shape national agendas, Shaun is concerned that untested, economically reckless and ideologically driven ideas can seep into the platforms of the major parties under pressure from preference deals or shifting public sentiment. By way of example, he points to Labor’s proposal to tax unrealised capital gains within superannuation funds as, functionally, a form of wealth taxation.
“It’s time for Australia to reclaim tax reform as a serious, nation-building project. Without it, we risk losing not only our competitiveness, but the very economic freedoms that underpin our prosperity.”
