GST
You may remember the
film Meet Joe Black which came out in 1998, with the actors Brad Pitt
and Anthony Hopkins. It was the first time I had heard the idiom 'as
sure as death and taxes'.
The latter are
gathered by those in charge of the state, to be able to finance the
service offered by the state and, if the leaders have no scruples, to
line their own pockets. However this is not the topic of today.
In the past 2 weeks,
the NSW Premier Mike Baird has proposed that the rate of GST
increases from 10% to 15%.1
No one enjoys speaking tax,
and paying it even less. However I wanted to talk and comment about
some terms that are often bandied about.
First
of all, what is GST? It's an abbreivation for Goods and Services
Tax, a form of tax that is collected bit by bit at all stages in the
construction of the product or service, instead of being collected
all at once at one stage, such as a customs duty or income tax.
Several countries
have a GST apart from Australia, like Canada. In other countries
such as those in the European Union including Malta, it is called VAT
(Value Added Tax).
In Australia, GST is
collected by the federal government, and distributed entirely to
state and territory governments. The main advantages (for
government) are:
- it covers most of the economy (with some exclusions such as food and health) to the same extent, and does not target specific parts such as stamp duties on property transfers, or taxes on income (which discourage the targeted activity, resulting in a distortion in the economy);
- that it starts being collected gradually much before the product or service is purchased by the consumer.
The downside of this
tax is its regressive nature. What does this word mean - are we
moving backwards?
This term is used to
distinguish GST (and similar taxes like VAT) from 'progressive' taxes
like income tax. With the latter, the higher the income (money
earned), the higher the rate paid. In Australia, rates go from 19%
to 45%. In many countries including Australia, those on very low
incomes don't pay any tax on income.
With GST, everybody
pays the same rate (today 10%), notwithstanding income or wealth. If
one compared how much tax is paid by a poor person compared to his
income, and did the same with a rich person, you would notice that
the former would pay more, or much more, than the latter2.
For that reason, GST is called regressive.
Progressive taxes
are considered measures of social justice, positive (and to be
increased) by leftist political parties. They are considered
negative (and to be decreased) by rightist political parties. As you
would expect, these parties have the opposite attitude to regressive
taxes.
For this reason,
there is always a political fight whenever GST (or VAT) is to be
introduced or increased in a country. This happened in Australia in
the year 2000, when the Labor Party opposed (without success) the
introduction of GST, and I remember the same happening in Malta in
1995 when the Labour Party opposed the introduction of VAT, removed
it when the tables turned, and saw it re-introduced when the tables
turned once again in 1999.
As we said, the
Australian GST rate is 10%. It's much lower than in the EU, where
the lowest standard rate permitted is 15%3.
In practice though, the
lowest rates are those in Luxembourg (17%) and Malta (18%), and the
highest is that of Hungary (27%).4
In
New Zealand, the rate is 15%.
On
the other hand, the rate in Canada is lower at 5%.
The
fact is that GST and VAT are taxes considered to generate much less
unintended distortion to the economy, which means it does not
discourage one part and encourage another. I think this is a
positive attribute, and Premier Baird's proposal, apart from
providing income for the states to provide services such as health,
has the potential to reduce the need for the number, (about 125,
considered
too high5),
of taxes and their related complications, that exist today in
Australia.
Nevertheless,
I also believe in social justice, and so maintain that
the poorest in society need to be taken care of, with substantial and
and permanent compensation for what will become high costs for them,
and/or simultaneous changes to other progressive taxes so that equity
(i.e. giving a fair go with the poor) is maintained. Hence, we
should be looking at other taxes as well rather than concentrate just
on the GST.
Such a package would have my
approval.
GST
Ma nafx tiftakrux
il-film Meet Joe Black
(Iltaqgħu ma' Joe Black) li ħareġ fl-1998, li kien fih l-atturi
Brad Pitt u Anthony Hopkins. Kienet
l-ewwel darba li ltqajt mal-idjoma 'ċert
daqs il-mewt u t-taxxi'.
Dawn
tal-aħħar jinġabru minn dawk li jmexxu l-istat, biex ikunu
jistgħu jiffinanzjaw is-servizzi li joffri l-istess stat, u jekk
min imexxi jkun bla skrupli, biex iħaxxen butu. Imma mhux fuq hekk
nixtieq nitkellem illum.
Fil-ħmistax
li għaddew, il-Premier ta' NSW, Mike Baird, għamel proposta biex
ir-rata tal-GST tikber minn 10% għal 15%.1
Ħadd ma jieħu gost
jitkellem fuq it-taxxa, u wisq inqas iħallasha. Biss xtaqt
nitkellem u nikkummenta ftit fuq xi termini relatati li spiss
jissemmew.
L-ewwel
ħaġa, x'inhi l-GST? Hija abbrevjazzjoni ta' Goods and
Services Tax (taxxa fuq
il-prodotti u s-servizzi), forma ta' taxxa li tinġabar ftit ftit
f'kull stadju fit-tiswir
tal-prodott jew servizz, minflok tinġabar
f'daqqa
fi stadju wieħed, bħal tariffa tad-dwana,
jew taxxa fuq id-dħul.
Hemm
diversi pajjiżi li għandhom il-GST
apparti l-Awstralja, bħall-Kanada.
F'pajjiżi oħrajn
tissejjaħ VAT (Value Added Tax
- taxxa fuq il-valur miżjud), bħall-pajjiżi tal-Unjoni Ewropea
inkluża Malta.
Fl-Awstralja,
il-GST tinġabar mill-gvern federali, u titqassam kollha kemm hi
lill-gvernijiet tal-istati u t-territorji. Il-vantaġġi
prinċipali tagħha
(għall-gvern) huma:
- li tkopri l-biċċa l-kbira tal-ekonomija (ħlief esklużjonijiet bħall-ikel u s-saħħa) b'mod ugwali, u mhux partijiet speċifiċi bħat-tariffi fuq il-bejgħ tal-proprjetà, jew it-taxxa fuq il-pagi (li jiskoraġġixxu dik l-attività, u għalhekk iwasslu għal tagħwiġ fl-ekonomija);
- li tibda tinġabar gradwalment ħafna qabel ma l-prodott jew is-servizz jiġi mixtri mill-konsumatur fl-istadju tal-konsum.
Il-kritika
għal din it-taxxa hi n-natura rigressiva tagħha. Din
il-kelma x'inhi - mela
sejrin lura?
Dan
it-terminu jintuża biex jiddistingwi l-GST (u taxxi simili
bħall-VAT) minn taxxi 'progressivi' bħat-taxxi fuq id-dħul.
Bit-taxxa fuq id-dħul,
iktar ma wieħed ikollu dħul (jaqla flus), iktar iħallas rata ta'
taxxa għolja. Fl-Awstralja
r-rati jibdew minn 19% sa
45%. F'ħafna pajjiżi nkluz l-Awstralja, min għandu dħul baxx
ħafna ma
jħallas xejn taxxa fuq
id-dħul.
Bil-GST,
kulħadd iħallas l-istess rata (illum
10%),
għandu dħul kemm għandu dħul u għani kemm hu għani. Jekk
tqabbel kemm iħallas taxxa ma kemm jaqla bniedem fqir u bniedem
għani, tara li tal-ewwel bil-GST jispiċċa jħallas iktar, (jew
ħafna iktar)
proporzjonalment minn bniedem għani2.
Għalhekk, il-GST tissejjaħ rigressiva.
Taxxi
progressivi jitqiesu
miżuri
ta' ġustizzja soċjali, u
bħala xi ħaġa pożittiva
(u ta' min jiżdiedu) minn
partiti politiċi xellugin. Jitqiesu
bħala xi ħaġa negattivi
(u ta' min jitnaqqsu) minn
partiti politiċi tal-lemin. Kif
wieħed jistenna, dawn il-partiti għandhom l-attitudni l-opposta
għat-taxxi rigressivi.
Għal
din ir-raġuni, dejjem ikun hemm ġlieda politika
meta l-GST (jew il-VAT) ikun se jiddaħħal jew ikun se jogħla
f'pajjiż.
Dan ġara fl-Awstralja fis-sena 2000, meta l-partit Laburista
oppona (mingħajr suċċess)
l-introduzzjoni tal-GST, u niftakar
l-istess ġara
f'Malta fl-1995 meta
l-partit
Laburista oppona l-introduzzjoni tal-VAT, neħħiha
meta inqalbet il-folja u kellu jaraha tiġi reintrodotta meta
l-folja nqalbet lura fl-1999.
Kif
għedna, fl-Awstralja r-rata tal-GST illum hi ta' 10%. Hija
ħafna iktar baxxa minn dik
fl-UE, fejn l-inqas rata
standard permessa tal-VAT
hija ta' 15%3.
Fil-prattika però,
l-inqas rati huma tal-Lussemburgu (17%) u Malta (18%), u l-iktar
għolja huma tal-Ungerija (27%).4
Fi
New Zealand ir-rata hija ta' 15%.
Mill-banda
l-oħra, hija iktar għolja mir-rata tal-Kanada li bħalissa hi ta'
5%.
Il-fatt
hu li l-GST u l-VAT huma
taxxi
meqjusa
li
jiġġeneraw ħafna inqas tagħwiġ mhux
intenzjonat fl-ekonomija,
jiġifieri ma jiskoraġġux lil parti u jinkoraġġixxu lil parti
oħra. Din
naraha bħala xi ħaġa pożittiva, u l-proposta
tal-Premier Baird, apparti li tipprovdi dħul għall-istati għal
servizzi bħal dak tas-saħħa,
għandha l-potenzjal li tnaqqas il-bżonn ta' wħud
mill-ammont meqjus kbir wisq (madwar 1255)
ta' taxxi li jeżistu illum fl-Awstralja u
l-kumplikazzjonijiet
tagħhom.
Madankollu,
nemmen ukoll fil-ġustizzja soċjali, u għalhekk insostni li hemm
bżonn li nieħdu ħsieb l-iktar batuti fis-soċjetà,
b'kumpens sostanzjali u permanenti għal dawk li se jkunu spejjeż
għoljin għalihom, u/jew tibdil fl-istess żmien f'taxxi
progressivi oħra sabiex l-ekwità
(jiġifieri
li timxi bil-fier ma min huwa fqir) ma
tkunx mittiefsa. Għalhekk, iridu jiġu kkunsidrati taxxi oħra u
mhux nikkonċentraw fuq il-GST biss.
Pakkett ta' dan it-tip ikollu
l-approvazzjoni tiegħi.
3http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/topics/rates_en.htm,
retrieved 26/7/2015
4VAT
Rates Applied in the Member States of the EU; European Commission,
Taxud.c.1(2015); 1st January 2015
5Australia's
Future Tax System - Report to the Treasurer; Ken Henry et al; 2009;
Overview p.11
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