Fed: Services price rises expose GST lies, says Beazley

AAP General News (Australia)
04-29-2001
Fed: Services price rises expose GST lies, says Beazley

CANBERRA, April 29 AAP - Dramatic rises in the cost of services had exposed more lies
about the GST, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures published today in The Sun-Herald showed
the cost of many services had risen by more than the 10 per cent GST.

House and car insurance rose by 38.5 per cent between July 2000 and March 2001 despite
the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) predicting only a seven per
cent rise, the Sun-Herald report said.

Sports fees went up 12 per cent, hairdressing costs 11.7 per cent, electricity 12 per
cent, public transport and taxi fares 11 per cent, takeaway and restaurant meals 10.4
per cent, and cigarettes 18 per cent, it said.

"What it (the ABS) exposes is yet another set of lies associated with the government's
advocacy of the goods-and-services tax," Mr Beazley told the Seven Network.

"None of the prices mentioned there was supposed to rise by the amount that has been indicated.

"It's not just services, it's food, it's a whole range of things where clearly the
embedded cost of the GST has been much higher than the government anticipated."

Labor's GST rollback would depend on resources available to achieve it responsibly
as Labor did not want to solve one problem by creating another, Mr Beazley said.

Rollback would involve making the system simple and fairer, he said.

Mr Beazley said pensioners and single-income families had suffered most under the GST.

"So we'll be calibrating that rollback that we do off services or off goods or in increased
compensation to those who've suffered most in the first instance," he said.

AAP fh/cdh/bwl

KEYWORD: TAX BEAZLEY

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