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SENATOR CALLS FOR RE GIONAL TAX REVIEW

RESIDENTS in the regions should be given further tax incentives to compensate for the higher cost of living, according to LNP senator Ian Macdonald.

The veteran Queensland senator said he would “redouble” his efforts to get a review of regional tax zones.

He said people living in North Queensland would receive between $ 5000 and $ 25,000 if the regional tax rebates first established more than 70 years ago had been adjusted for CPI.

VETERAN Queensland LNP Senator Ian Macdonald is ramping up his push for a review of regional tax incentives to ensure residents in the North are compensated for the higher cost of living.

Senator Macdonald ( pictured) said people living in North Queensland would receive between $ 5000 and $ 25,000 if the regional tax rebates first established more than 70 years ago had been adjusted for CPI.

“If people did get a $ 5000 tax reduction that would compensate the extra costs associated with accessing services like schools or hospitals,” he said.

Residents of centres like Mount Isa, Cloncurry and Camooweal qualify for a modest $ 338 Zone A tax offset, while about 30 other locations in North Queensland qualify for the lesser $ 57 Zone B offset, including Townsville, Ayr, Charters Towers, Mackay and Cairns.

About a dozen other re- mote areas, including Hughenden and Julia Creek, are “special zones” where residents receive a $ 1173 tax offset.

Senator Macdonald said he was preparing to “redouble” his efforts to get a review of regional tax zones with a comprehensive submission to the Prime Minister and Treasurer.

“The issue needs to be properly looked at in a review,” he said.

He also spruiked the plan at a Western Queensland Local Government Association conference this week.

“If ( indexation) had happened, that would be a real emphasis to attract people to the west and the North to develop the resources we know are there,” he said.

“A review may find that Townsville should get some relief, but it’s principally for those people who are a long way away from the services available to people on the coast and in the capital cities.”

Senator Macdonald said the Federal Government had been “very generous” with grants to regional Australia but infrastructure funding alone wasn’t enough.

“I want to encourage peo- ple to the North and west, and if you want to do that you need to compensate them for what we acknowledge is the higher cost of living, the absence of hospitals, the distances to specialists, theatres, major sporting events, schools, goods and services and beaches,” he said.

Senator Macdonald said he tried to get a review of zone tax rebates in the 2015 Northern Australia White Paper, but the references were deleted from an early draft.

“It became too difficult, and some became worried about the constitutional implications of the proposal,” he said.

Senator Macdonald said it would be up to a review to decide if having varied taxation zones across Australia was constitutional.

“There has always been this concern … but it has never been tested in the courts,” he said.

Senator Macdonald said he did not believe the reform would necessarily be popular with the majority of voters.

“Unfortunately it impacts so very few people, it would not necessarily be electorally popular but in my view it’s right and it is fair.”