Taxes Should Be Going Down, Says Mark Lizarraga

Mark Lizarraga

The debate for the 2018 Budget is set for next week Thursday and Friday. One of the key points will be how the government is managing the tax base for revenue in relation to its spending. Business Senator Mark Lizarraga, a watchdog for the business community, argues in advance of that debate that if the government is not transparent about its spending, then there is no incentive to lower the tax rate. He concludes that government’s inability to curtail its bloated appetite for spending and refusal to be transparent and accountable in the spending of our tax money is what spurs the repeated tax hikes.

Mark Lizarraga, Business Senator

“Earlier in the year, the government readjusted certain categories, some one hundred and eighty tariff lines of food items are now attracting GST. We see other services, which you are aware of, now attracting GST and the government again keeps administratively getting more taxes from us. When the talk of broadening the tax base has always been in line with lowering the tax rate and we have seen that there has been no such move, no announcement of lowering the tax rate; yet we see moves constantly to broaden the tax base. So no care how you polish it, the government is taking more in taxes, taxes have gone up in this budget. And there is no significant demonstrable measures that government is taking to cut on recurring expenditures.”