If the economics of broadening or lifting Australia’s GST are challenging, the politics are horrendous

Labor is fundamentally opposed to changing the tax on consumption on the basis it hurts poorer Australians. And the worry about fairness is real Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast When Jim Chalmers declared we needed a national debate on reforming the economy to drive the next generation of prosperity, he scolded the media for its penchant for playing the rule-in-rule-out game. The irony is that from his high horse, the treasurer had almost certainly ruled out one major change: lifting or broadening the GST.