Australia Yearbook - 2001

936 Year Book Australia 2001
27.17 TAXATION REVENUE, General Government, All Levels of Government—1998–99
Commonwealth
State and
local
All Australian
governments
Type of tax
$m
$m
$m
Taxes on income
Income taxes levied on individuals 75 657 — 75 657
Income taxes levied on enterprises 25 677 — 25 677
Income taxes levied on non-residents 1 079 — 1 079
Total 102 413 — 102 413
Employers’ payroll taxes(a)
General taxes (payroll tax) — 8 507 8 394
Other employers’ labour force taxes 3 245 — 3 145
Total 3 245 8 507 11 539
Taxes on property
Taxes on immovable property(a) — 8 631 8 631
Taxes on financial and capital transactions 5 8 357 8 362
Total 5 16 988 16 993
Taxes on provision of goods and services
General taxes (sales tax) 15 215 — 15 215
Excise and levies
Crude oil and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) 11 160 — 11 160
Other excises 2 680 — 2 680
Agricultural production taxes 791 — 791
Levies on statutory corporations — 50 50
Total 14 631 50 14 681
Taxes on international trade 3 747 — 3 747
Taxes on gambling 3 4 136 4 139
Taxes on insurance — 2 012 2 012
Total 33 596 6 198 39 794
Taxes on use of goods and performance of activities
Motor vehicle taxes 20 3 908 3 928
Franchise taxes — 5 688 5 688
Other 519 411 930
Total 539 10 007 10 546
Total taxes 139 797 41 699 181 282
(a) The sum of individual levels of government may not agree with totals for all levels of government, due to intergovernmental
taxes.
Source: Taxation Revenue, Australia (5506.0).
Taxation during the first 100 years of Federation
Taxation policy from Federation
to the year 2000
Before Federation, the sources of most tax
revenues for Australian colonial governments
were customs duties and excises. Other taxes
were also generally imposed, such as stamp
duties, stock taxes, taxes on the property of
deceased persons and taxes on land. When
revenue from these taxes fell short of what was
needed to fund expenditure programs,
governments chose to levy income taxes at
different times from the 1880s. All States had
established income taxation by 1907.
At Federation in 1901, the Australian
Constitution granted the Commonwealth a
monopoly of customs duties and excises and
the power to levy other taxes concurrently with
the States. Individual States attempted to
impose sales taxes from time to time (e.g. in
1926, 1938 and 1949), but these were ruled to
be excises by the High Court. Sales taxes were
first imposed by the Commonwealth in 1930 to
offset falls in customs revenues.
A Commonwealth land tax was introduced
during 1910, aimed at financing a national old
age pension which had been promised at
Federation.