Tax is too high every which way

So no matter which way you look at it, Australia is a high tax country, even by OECD standards.

But we shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to the debt-ridden, stagnant basket cases of the old world.  If we want to be more prosperous, we should compare ourselves to the richest and most dynamic countries in the world. 

There are four non-OECD countries that are richer than us — Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.   We compete with each of these for investment, skilled workers and entrepreneurs, and each country has a markedly lower tax burden than Australia.  The tax burden in Singapore and Hong Kong is around 14 per cent of GDP, and even lower in Qatar and the UAE.  

The Coalition, Labor and the Greens will tell you again and again that our taxes are low.  Every time this lie is repeated, it needs to be refuted.  And in this task, I’m happy to be a broken record.