JUST as the federal government dusts itself off after its foray into Medicare reform, it appears to be entering new dire straits with growing chatter about extending the Goods and Services Tax to fresh food.
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Falling tax revenues on the back of the slide in resources prices, as well as deficits inherited from the previous Labor government, have given a new sense of urgency to the upcoming white paper on taxation.
But talk of extending the GST to cover fresh food has local community workers fearing that once again the people who can least afford it will be the hardest hit by such a move.
With the revelation that some 2000 people are already turning to the Nowra and Bomaderry Community Food Store for help with their groceries, it’s highly likely if prices rose that number would only increase.
The likely impact on local health is also worrisome. With so much time and money invested in trying to encourage people to eat fresh food – and such a huge cost to the health system when chronic disease from poor nutrition takes hold – it would seem a poor choice to make healthy eating more expensive.
While there is a need to have a conversation about the tax system and how it can be reformed to meet the challenges it now faces, taxing fresh food will probably end up costing more than it will save.
A robust discussion about ensuring multinational corporations pay tax when they operate in Australia would be a much fairer way forward to balancing the books.