Australia Should Consider Hiking Consumption Tax Rate, OECD Says

Australia should think about raising the rate on its consumption tax and reducing its exemptions, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report released Friday.

Changes to Australia’s goods and services tax, and other tax and spending reforms, are needed to ensure a robust fiscal framework, rebuild fiscal buffers, and offset the fiscal costs of an aging population, the OECD said in its latest economic survey of the country.

• Australia should also further reduce tax concessions on private pensions, which would raise revenue and more closely align tax treatment of pensions with other forms ...