Australian Federal Budget 2011-12
From an economic perspective, Australian business is recovering from the global financial crisis. As businesses seek to stabilise financially in a recovering economy, the impacts of inefficiencies in the tax system on Australia's competitiveness and business agility are magnified - and while there were some budget sweeteners announced, the focus of this year's budget is on spending cuts aimed at returning the budget to surplus in 2012-13.Over the last two years, the tax reform agenda has moved ahead. The Australia's Future Tax System review completed its recommendations in December 2009 and a small number of these recommendations, notably the resources tax, have been adopted by the Government and also announced in this year's budget. The broader tax reform agenda was not pursued in the budget and will probably take many years to unfold. Business and other sectors of the community remain hopeful that the October 2011 Tax Forum will revitalise the debate and provide it with fresh impetus.
As part of our Budget analysis, we have provided updates on the following areas:
- Infrastructure
- GST
- Tax Administration
- Personal tax
- Superannuation
- Fringe Benefits Tax Changes
- Small Business Tax Breaks
- Tax Legislative Pipeline
- Other Key Tax Measures
