A new paper released today by Finance Minister Senator Penny Wong outlines Australias future fiscal challenges, in the lead up to next weeks Tax Forum.
The paper - Tax Forum: The Fiscal Context outlines the importance of ensuring the tax system provides a robust revenue base into the future.
Our tax system provides the vast bulk of the funding for government services that are essential for a fair and prosperous society like schools, hospitals, social security and infrastructure.
To ensure governments are well placed to meet these needs going forward, we need a strong and sustainable tax system and a strong and sustainable fiscal position.
Discussion at the Tax Forum should reflect the need for ongoing fiscal discipline - to meet the Governments fiscal rules and to ensure the budget is well placed to meet future fiscal pressures.
Any proposals for change discussed at the Tax Forum need to be affordable and fully funded, not just in the next couple of years, but also into the future. So participants advocating tax cuts also need to think about how those cuts will be funded.
The Tax Forum comes as Australia adjusts to the ongoing impacts of the mining boom, the lingering effects of the global financial crisis and continuing global uncertainty. These domestic and global challenges remind us that this is a time for credible, responsible and sustainable fiscal policies.
The Tax Forum: The Fiscal Context paper is available at: http://www.futuretax.gov.au/content/Content.aspx?doc=TaxForum/Discussion_Paper.htm