Mirror Tax arrangements

The Australian Government introduced mirror tax arrangements in 1998 to ensure the States were not financially disadvantaged by the High Court decision in Allders International Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue (Victoria), which invalidated state taxes on Commonwealth places.

These arrangements mirror certain state taxes including payroll taxes, land taxes, debits tax and stamp duties on activities in or on Commonwealth places.

The States collect these mirror taxes on behalf of the Australian Government and bear the administrative costs of collection. All mirror tax revenues are automatically credited to the Australian Government and automatically appropriated to the States at the same time. Hence, mirror taxes are recorded as both Australian Government revenue and negative revenue, with no net impact on the Budget.

Table 18 shows estimates of accrued mirror taxes from 2003-04 to 2007-08.

Table 18: Accrued mirror taxes on behalf of the States, 2003-04 to 2007-08 (estimated)

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