A proud record of tax reform

This Government has a proud record of tax reform.

Tax reform is never easy and has been made all the harder by the extremely challenging fiscal circumstances we have been facing. Despite the challenges, the Government has delivered a substantial and ongoing program of reform to the tax and transfer system - starting with our first Budget in 2008, when we commissioned the most comprehensive review of the tax and transfer system in a generation, the Australia's Future Tax System (AFTS) Review.

Since our first Budget in 2008 we have made the tax system stronger, smarter and fairer, including by:

• delivering three rounds of tax cuts in our first three Budgets, right across the income scale;
• tripling the tax-free threshold to simplify the tax system and cut taxes for low and middle income earners, improving rewards particularly for casual and part-time workers;
• strengthening the Age Pension through our 2009 Secure and Sustainable Pension reforms;
• introducing a range of reforms to support small businesses to invest to be more competitive, such as the instant asset write-off and loss carry-back arrangements;
• removing, reforming or phasing out poorly targeted, out-dated and ineffective tax concessions and closing down loopholes;
• fostering a national conversation on tax reform through the October 2011 Tax Forum;
• establishing the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission as an independent national regulator in 2012; and
• creating in 2013 the Tax Studies Institute as a centre for excellence in tax research at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.

Of the 138 recommendations in the AFTS report, the Government has acted on over a third of these in the space of a few short years. In every Budget since the AFTS review, the Government has added to this proud record of tax reform.

Progress of recommendations from the AFTS review's forty year vision