Lower Taxes

Every dollar government spends must first be taken from somebody who earned it.

Taxes reduce the reward for working, saving, investing and building a business. They increase the cost of employing people, buying a home and producing the goods and services we use every day.

The Libertarian Party believes Western Australians are better judges of how to spend their own money than politicians and bureaucrats.

Our goal is simple: lower taxes, fewer taxes and simpler taxes.

Make Western Australia the Lowest-Tax State

Western Australia should compete to be the best place in Australia to live, work, invest and start a business.

We support progressively reducing the overall burden of state taxation as government spending is brought under control.

We will prioritise reducing taxes that impose particularly damaging penalties on productive activity, including payroll tax, which taxes businesses for employing people, and stamp duty, which punishes people for buying property and makes it more expensive to move home.

We will oppose the introduction of new taxes and oppose increases to existing taxes.

Lower taxes are not a gift from government. They simply allow Western Australians to keep more of what was theirs in the first place.

Restore Competitive Federalism

Australia's tax system has become increasingly centralised in Canberra. That was not inevitable.

The Commonwealth introduced its own income tax in 1915 during the First World War, while the states continued to levy their own income taxes. During the Second World War, the Commonwealth introduced the uniform income tax scheme of 1942 and emerged as the dominant collector of income tax.

The Libertarian Party supports reversing this centralisation and returning greater responsibility for raising revenue to the states.

Government works best when the government spending your money is also responsible for raising it.

States should not be encouraged to demand more money from Canberra and then blame Canberra when there isn't enough. Governments should be accountable to the people who pay their taxes.

Returning greater taxation responsibility to the states would also restore competitive federalism.

Western Australia should be free to pursue lower taxes than Victoria, Queensland or New South Wales. Other states should be free to choose differently. Australians could then see which approach produces the best results.

Different states trying different policies is a strength of a federation, not a weakness.

Decisions should be made at the lowest practical level of government, as close as possible to the people affected by them.

The Libertarian Party WA will:

1. Reduce the overall burden of state taxation.
   Progressively lower taxes as government spending, waste and unnecessary bureaucracy are reduced.
2. Cut payroll tax.
   Reduce the penalty imposed on Western Australian businesses for employing people, with the long-term goal of abolishing payroll tax.
3. Reduce stamp duty.
   Progressively reduce stamp duty and other transaction taxes that make it more expensive to buy property, move home and invest in Western Australia.
4. Oppose new and increased taxes.
   Libertarian members of Parliament will not support the creation of new state taxes or increases to existing tax rates.
5. Push taxation responsibility back towards the states.
   Advocate nationally for reforms that reduce Australia's dependence on Commonwealth taxation and allow states greater responsibility for raising the revenue required to fund their own responsibilities.
6. Support competitive federalism.
   Give Western Australia the freedom to pursue a lower-tax model and compete with other states for people, businesses and investment.
7. Reduce spending before looking for new revenue.
   When government faces a budget problem, its first question should be where it can spend less, not where it can tax more.

The size of the tax burden ultimately depends on the size of government.