South Australian election 2022: Labor leader Peter Malinauskas pledges no new taxes

The SA Labor leader has used a speech to one of the state’s biggest business lobbies to bolster his financial credentials as the election fight looms.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas is moving to bolster his economic and business credentials by vowing any Labor government he leads will impose “no new taxes”.

In a speech to a Business SA lunch on Friday, Mr Malinauskas promised no surprise post-election tax changes in an attempt to capitalise on the state government in 2019 hiking fees and charges in a $79m cash grab to cover a budget black hole.

He also insisted a Malinauskas Labor government would “fight to reclaim SA’s fair share of GST revenue” lost under a 2018 overhaul, which Treasurer Rob Lucas in July branded “unfair” when launching an independent review into the arrangements that have cost the state $250m.

Opposition Labor Leader Peter Malinauskas is pledging no new taxes under a future Labor government he leads. addresses media. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Mr Malinauskas accused Premier Steven Marshall of unleashing “a wave of tax hikes well above the inflation rate”, despite being elected on a promise of lower costs.

“I want to make a clear pledge to the people of South Australia, under a Labor

Government under my leadership, there will be no new taxes,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“Unlike the Liberals, under Labor there will be no surprise changes to tax policy.

“South Australian businesses and taxpayers deserve certainty and that is exactly what

Labor is promising.”

The promise is an attempt to reassure business that Mr Malinauskas will not introduce radical economic changes if elected at the March 19 poll.

Mr Malinauskas also repeated Labor’s November 7 promise to axe the electric vehicle road user charge passed by parliament in October, which Mr Lucas at the time dismissed as “no great surprise” because the ALP was likely to “promise the world when they’re in opposition”.

Treasurer Rob Lucas. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

At the time, Mr Lucas said the road user charge was inevitable, because without it there would be no funding available in the future for road maintenance or upgrades as fuel excise revenue diminished.

Mr Lucas said Labor was addicted to new taxes and had proposed a raft of failed hikes in its previous term, including imposts on carparks and banks, as well as jacking up the Emergency Services Levy by $100m.

“I don’t believe Labor’s promises on new taxes. They’ve made them before and they’re addicted to new taxes,” he said.

Former Labor premier Mike Rann’s first budget, in 2002, broke a no-new-taxes promise with a pokies “super tax” and a stamp duty increase of more than $200,000.