Death, inheritance taxes not on reform agenda: Jim Chalmers

Jim Chalmers says the measures won’t be on the reform agenda at August’s productivity roundtable, which he says won’t be a repeat of the 2022 union-dominated Jobs and Skills Summit.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Canberra on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Jim Chalmers has taken taxes on death and the family home off the reform agenda at August’s productivity roundtable, while playing down any suggestions that the meeting will be a repeat of the union-dominated Jobs and Skills Summit of 2022.

The Treasurer has set up tax reform as a key to sustaining the growth in spending on defence and the care economy as traditional revenue streams come under threat, while urging for a new era of consensus across business, unions and community groups.

Dr Chalmers’ call was met by the peak union body warning it would fight hard to ensure any benefits flowing from increased productivity were “fairly shared” between employers and workers and not diverted into increased profits.

While saying in his National Press Club address on Wednesday that ruling things in or out had a “cancerous effect on policy debates”, the Treasurer firmly ruled out two key taxes that had been quietly considered by some of his own party colleagues.

“There are some things that governments – sensible, middle of the road, centrist governments like ours – don’t consider,” he said in an interview with digital publication The Conversation. “We don’t consider inheritance taxes, we don’t consider changing the arrangements for the family home, those sorts of things.”

He said that while he was still against GST reform, he was willing to listen to ideas on the consumption tax from those who would attend a much more targeted productivity roundtable.

“What I’m going to genuinely try and do, whether it’s in this ­policy area or in other policy areas, is to not limit what people might bring to the table,” the Treasurer said.

On Wednesday Dr Chalmers also firmly ruled out changes to Labor’s controversial plan for _unrealised capital gains tax, _saying, “We’re not changing the policies we took to the election; we’ve got a mandate for that change.”

Julie Abdalla, head of tax and legal at the Tax Institute, the peak body for tax professionals, said the changes set “an unfair and dangerous legal precedent”.

“We absolutely support changes that make our tax system more equitable,” Ms Abdalla said.

“No one is arguing against high-wealth individuals paying their fair share. We are concerned that Treasury is introducing a legal precedent that says ­Australians can be taxed on money they do not have and may never have. There’s nothing equitable about that.”

While the list of attendees at the Treasurer’s roundtable in ­August has not yet been finalised, Dr Chalmers asserted that the meeting outcome had not been predetermined as some suggested happened during the union-dominated Jobs and Skills Summit.

“This is a very different discussion to the Jobs and Skills Summit, much smaller, much more targeted,” Dr Chalmers said. “A bigger onus on people in the room to build consensus outside of the room. A different discussion to Jobs and Skills, and we want to give ourselves every chance to progress out of that discussion with something meaningful.”

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said unions would seek a commitment at the roundtable that benefits flowing from increased productivity did not benefit only businesses and their bottom lines.

Ms O’Neil said the union movement looked forward to an open and constructive discussion on productivity and growth at the meeting.

“We would hope that agreement could be easily reached that the benefits of productivity gains must be fairly shared,” Ms O’Neil said.

“Too often productivity is used as code for profit. Working people want to see changes that improve the quality of their jobs and living standards.”

Her comments follow criticism by Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Steve Murphy that workers were not getting their fair share from productivity improvements and wages should rise as new technology and increased productivity occurred.

Mr Murphy said that when workers heard the word productivity, it was “generally HR speak for cutting their pay to increase the bosses’ profit”.

“The major contributors to improving productivity are ­investment in workers skills, ­lifting management capability, R&D and introducing new technologies and capital – all are equally important to improving productivity in a sustainable way,” Mr Murphy said.

“An important starting point, and essential to shifting from conflict-based approach, is providing workers with the tools to contribute to this discussion and working together to identify areas for improvement at the workplace.

“Likewise lifting workers wages as new technology and productivity improvements are implemented changes the conversations at the workplace level.”

Electrical Trades Union national secretary Michael Wright recently urged the roundtable to address delays in approving transmission, solar and wind projects.

“Planning approvals in the energy transition are taking too long and are too uncertain – and this directly undermines job security and our ability to train apprentices,” Mr Wright said.

“This is not about letting the market rip, but plainly the delays we are seeing – and the community exhaustion from repeated consultations – show the current system isn’t working.

“We need to be far quicker to an answer, yes or no, which will see more jobs and more apprentices.”