Jim Chalmers has refused to confirm whether last week’s economic roundtable will lead to any new tax reform proposals being put forward in the government’s next budget.
The federal Treasurer said on Thursday there had been “broad agreement” on several key principles at the roundtable, including the need to make the budget more sustainable, address intergenerational inequality, streamline housing approvals, and be forward-looking when addressing artificial intelligence.
But when asked whether the government would introduce any additional tax reform proposals in its next budget as a result, Mr Chalmers said it “remains to be seen”.
Mr Chalmers said the roundtable highlighted there were “more steps to be taken on tax reform” but that the government’s priority was to push through the tax changes it took to the last election.
“There was a lot of policy ambition around the roundtable last week, and there is a lot of policy ambition in the government – from the Prime Minister down,” the Treasurer said.
“Our primary focus is on delivering tax reform in all of those ways we took to the election… income tax cuts, considering road user charging, (introducing) the standard deduction.”
Mr Chalmers said that in the aftermath of the roundtable, he did think “more steps needed to be taken on tax reform”, but stressed there was “some time to do that”.
“The Prime Minister and I have both said in our National Press Club contributions that we consider our task to deliver what we took to the election, but also to build on,” he said.
“The round table was never about finalising tax policies. It was about informing tax policies for the next three budgets and beyond, and that’s the approach I take to it.
“Fundamentally, this is a decision for cabinet ministers to take in the usual way and on the usual timing, which is from budget to budget, when we look at the spending side of the budget and the revenue side of the budget on each occasion.”
The Treasurer’s comments come after the Albanese government’s economic roundtable was criticised for being “just another talkfest” that would not lead to any substantive reform.