The case for a temporary cut to GST

The Taxpayers’ Union has an excellent paper making the case that the best response to the Covid-19 economic crisis would be cutting GST from 15% to 10% temporarily. Far better than the masses of wasteful spending by the Government.

Some key points:

• Would increase consumer spending
• Would bring forward major purchases
• A one off cost of $7.4 billion, if done for a year
• Would give the average household an extra $4,700 disposable income
• Would lead to an extra $12.9 billion of spending

Parties of both the right and left should support this. GST is a regressive tax so a temporary cut in GST would help low income households the most.