Trying to get anything other than the GST onto Malcolm’s ever shrinking tiny table is nigh-on impossible, but if we could, what’s wrong with introducing a financial transactions tax (FTT) to meet our growing financial requirement?

Professor Ross Buckley, University if NSW, has done work in this area & in 2011 suggested that a 0.05% FTT imposed on “over-the-counter” & “exchange traded market transactions” in the three year period 2005/2006-2008/2009 would have raised $48billion, which would suggest that Roy’s suggested rate may have generated around $65billion a year in the same period; around the same amount of additional revenue that an increased/enlarged GST regime would be expected to generate in 2017/2018.

At the same time, similar proposals for the introduction of a FTT in the EU argued that some specific transactions should be excluded to minimise any negative social/economic impact. These included:

*          Day-to-day financial activities of citizens & businesses (eg: loans, payments, insurance, deposits etc.)

*          Investment banking activities in the context of raising capital.

*          Transactions carried out as part of restructuring operations &

*          Certain refinancing transactions with central banks and the ECB (European Central Bank).

Of course, while Malcolm seeks to reassure a nervous populace with assurances that “all options are on the table” when it comes to proposed tax reform, the usual suspects are already out & about touting the miraculous benefits that would once again flow from coshing the disadvantaged with an increased GST, while continuing to protect the privileges of the big end of town.