The final report of the independent Commonwealth Grants Commission, released yesterday, will result in a massive GST cut to South Australia of about $2 billion over 4 years compared with GST estimates included in last year’s State Budget.
This report would mean a $166m cut to GST this year, and a massive $689m cut next year.
Treasurer Rob Lucas said, as the Government has foreshadowed over the last two months, this massive GST cut – together with the impacts of the bushfires and the coronavirus – will mean there will be no budget surplus this year or next year.
Treasury’s estimate of the GST cuts is outlined below:
19-20 | 20-21 | 21-22 | 22-23 | Total ($m) | |
2019-20 Budget | 6,758 | 6,948 | 7,107 | 7,424 | |
2020 CGC Review | 6,592 | 6,259 | 6,466 | 6,892 | |
Difference | -166 | -689 | -641 | -532 | -2,028 |
“In fact, the latest GST estimates are actually about $4.5 billion lower than the original GST estimates included in the Liberal Government’s first budget in September 2018, just over 18 months ago,” said Treasurer Lucas.
“The GST cut for 19-20 is $683m and for 20-21 will be $1,356m when compared to those original (Sept 2018) estimates.”
“It is important to note that this decision is not a decision taken by the Federal Government, but rather it is taken by the independent Commonwealth Grants Commission.
“For a number of reasons, the CGC has reduced our state’s relativity factor from 1.45 to 1.35 which is an almost unprecedented reduction in one year.
“Given the impact of the bushfires and the coronavirus on the national economy it is highly likely that there will be even further cuts in the GST when the Federal budget is released.
“Even with this massive GST cut, the Marshall Liberal Government will continue to give the highest priority to providing whatever funding is required for combatting the coronavirus and assisting recovery from bushfires.”
