Farm priorites for Tax Forum

The NFF has this week been taking part in the Tax Forum in Canberra, along with 150 representatives of the community, business, unions, government, academia and tax experts to discuss priorities and directions for further tax reform. The forum continued the conversation the Government started with the release of the Australia’s Future Tax System Review last year and focussed on a broad sweep of topics including: personal tax, transfer payments, business tax, state taxes, environmental and social taxes, and tax system governance. The NFF’s advocacy has focused on the role of taxation in drought management, incentives for environmental works and regional development (zonal taxation) which reinforced the need for agri-specific tools such as averaging and Farm Management Deposits. Positively, Tax Zone Rebates were acknowledged at the forum as requiring an urgent overhaul – something the NFF has long advocated for – and the concept of a Sovereign Wealth Fund gained some traction. An area of concern for the NFF is the push away from stamp duty and towards increasing land taxes as a replacement, a concept that clearly has risks for Australian farmers who manage over 60 percent of the Australian landscape. The NFF’s Statement of Tax Reform Priorities is available http://www.futuretax.gov.au/content/taxforum/statements/business/National_Farmers_Federation.pdf[here].