Melbourne Institute: Goods & Services Taxation Law in Australia

This report provides an overview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Australia, a value-added tax of 10% on most goods and services, with exemptions for healthcare, medicine, and housing. It discusses the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) as the primary taxation law developer, established in 2011 to replace numerous federal, state, and territory laws, enforced by the ACCC and state protection agencies. The report outlines the ACL's objectives, including consumer protection against unfair practices, and details consumer guarantees related to product quality, descriptions, supplier rights, and service standards. It also covers the characteristics of the ACL, its roles in ensuring fair business conduct, and the principles of a good tax system, such as equity, simplicity, neutrality, and certainty. Furthermore, the report touches on the history of Australia’s tax measures, from the Trade Practices Act 1974 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and assesses the effectiveness of the GST law in meeting its objectives through accountable management, tax risk identification, and integrity in reporting.

Taxation Law
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

Goods and Services Taxation Law and
Its Objectives
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Australia is a value added tax
which stands 10% on most of the products and services sale.
The exempted commodities from the tax include certain healthcare
services, medicine as well as housing products like water and sewerage
(The Institutional Framework of Taxation in Australia, 2018).
The primary Taxation Law developer is the Australian Consumer Law
(ACL).

Cont’
 It was started in 2011 as a replacement of the seventeen federal, state and territory laws.
 These laws are enforced and directed hand in hand with the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC) together with the State and Territory protection
agencies.
 The core intention of the ACL taxation is to protect the consumers against unfair and
unequal treatment.

Objectives of Taxation Laws in
Australia
 To protect the consumer from misleading unconscionable behaviour
and unfair terms in standard form consumer contracts ("Consumer
guarantees under Australian law - NT.GOV.AU", 2018).

ACL Consumer Guarantees
 The Australian Consumer Law advocate that once a consumer
purchase a product or service that have to be guaranteed the following:
• The products meets the desired qualities
• The good are in line with their description
• The wholesaler or supplier is entitled to sell the products or offer the
services
• The goods being sold are fit for any purpose that the user makes
known to the supplier

Cont’
 The spare parts and repairs for the goods are readily in existence
 The services are conducted in a reasonable care and skills and
 The services are achieved in a reasonable amount of time where
there is not agreed date.

Characteristics of Australian Consumer
Law
 ACL is the countrywide unfair contract terms regulation that regulates the standard
form consumer and small business contracts
 ACL guarantees the consumer the right when purchasing goods and services
 ACL is a countrywide code of conduct that enhances product safety and the
enforcement system
 The law is unsolicited consumer agreement that controls telephone sales and door-
to-door sales
 ACL law work to enforce powers, penalties and consumer redress options

Roles of the Australian Consumer Law
(ACL)
 Make sure that business conduct business in a standard way.
 To face out unfair contract laws.
 To counter the prevalence of harmful business activities.
 To provide control on particular types of business-to-consumer
transactions.
 Offer the consumer with the fundamental rights to access services and
goods.
 Control and enhance product safety for consumer use.

Principles of a Good Tax System
 A good taxation system should consist of the following elements equity,
efficiency, simplicity, certainty neutrality.
 Equity: It includes the distribution of the tax load in a fair way across the entire
population.
 Equity fall under two essential classes’ vertical and horizontal equity ("The
Australian Consumer Law – Australian Consumer Law", 2018).
 Vertical equity is where taxpayers from different positions pay different amount of
tax
 Horizontal equity tax a taxpayer in the same position pay a similar amount of tax.

Cont’
 Simplicity: It is an administrative and plan tax which involves acquiescence and
uncertain costs to the taxpayer.
 It demands that the taxpayer should be conversant with their responsibility that is
paying taxes as required by law.
 Neutrality: In this case the impact of taxes is not supposed to influence the taxpayer’s
choices by modifying the cost of products and dissimilar investments.
 Certainty: It states that it is responsibility of the taxpayer to understand that in advance
that they have a tax liability.

History of Australia’s Tax Measures
The Taxation Law was established by a consensus between the Council of Australian
Governments.
The initial taxation law was the Trade Practices Act 1974, nut it was reviewed to the
Australian Consumer Law
The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) is an act of the Australian Parliament
at the moment, but before it used to be known as the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA).
The Act is the legislative body for competition law in Australia.

Cont’
 The primary objective of this Act is to enhance fair trading,
competition and assuring consumers their protection.
 It is governed by the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commissions (ACCC) but is has given some right for private action.
The CCA schedule outlines the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

Effectiveness of the Good and Services
Taxation Law in Meeting Objectives
 An effective goods and services taxation law should have the
following elements:
 Accountable management and oversight: The duties and
responsibilities should be clearly outlined and known in terms of
accountability for tax administration and decision-making Cobiac,
L. J., Tam, K., Veerman, L., & Blakely, T. (2017).

Cont’
 Tax risk identification such as it contains suitable processes and regulations
that enhance the compliance of tax by assessing and mitigating commercial
and tax risks.
 Integrity in reporting where managers and owners are in a position to look at
all the monetary records of the business, like tax reporting as a reflection of
the actual fair view of the business.

References
 The Australian Consumer Law – Australian Consumer Law. (2018). Retrieved from
http://consumerlaw.gov.au/the-australian-consumer-law/
 Consumer guarantees under Australian law - NT.GOV.AU. (2018). Retrieved from
https://nt.gov.au/law/rights/consumer-guarantees-under-australian-law
 The Institutional Framework of Taxation in Australia. (2018). [Ebook]. Retrieved from
https://tticdn.blob.core.windows.net/tti-files/dmfile/Institutional_Framework_of_Taxat
ion_in_Australia.pdf
 Cobiac, L. J., Tam, K., Veerman, L., & Blakely, T. (2017). Taxes and subsidies for
improving diet and population health in Australia: a cost-effectiveness modelling
study. PLoS medicine, 14(2), e1002232.