Study on GST increase

Press, 15 July 1987, Page 2

Study on GST increase

PA Nelson The Inland Revenue Department is studying a possible rise in GST to 15 per cent, says the Opposition spokesman on finance, Mr George Gair. Inland Revenue Department officers had been told to do an exercise calculating how GST would work at 15 per cent, he said after a public meeting in Riwaka. Mr Gair said that the information came from someone with a close relative in the department, and this source had proved reliable before. It seemed to give credence to the leaked paper from a Labour

Policy Council member, Mr Simon Walker, which suggested a possible GST increase to 15 per cent if Labour were re-elected, Mr Gair said.

“Obviously, I can’t name the officer concerned,” he said. “But this confirms Simon Walker’s point. The 15 per cent rise has reached the study stage.” Earlier, Mr Gair told the meeting the tip-off about the 15 per cent GST research had come from a regional office, but not Nelson. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Mr John Simcock, said in Wellington that he was not in a position “to contradict or

confirm” whether his department had been researching a possible move to 15 per cent GST.

“You have got to understand my position,” he said. “You should understand the relationship we have with Government. This is Government business, not mine. It is a policy question, not connected to the administration of the taxation system.”

"I am very concerned if anybody in Inland Revenue has had contact with politicians,” Mr Simcock said. “But the statement does not indicate whether any of this work is going on.”