Rudd on taxes - a lesson too late for Gordon?

The Angry Exile, Upside Down Correspondent.

From The Age:

The federal government aims to cut the amount of tax faced by the vast majority of Australians, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

In a key speech delivered three days before release of the long-awaited Henry tax review, Mr Rudd hinted he was also aiming to help small businesses and working families.

The review, by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, is due to be published on Sunday when financial markets will be closed.

OECD table: How Australia ranks in tax take

The government is due to deliver its response on the same day. Speaking to the NSW Business Chamber today, Mr Rudd said the review and the 2010/2011 budget, due to be delivered on May 11, presented an opportunity to usher in a new "generation of prosperity".

"In our response to the Henry review, the government will make the tax system stronger and fairer," he told a breakfast meeting of the chamber.

"Improving the structure of the tax system by replacing inefficient taxes with more efficient ones and streamlining governments and administrations reduces complexity and makes the Australian economy more productive.

"Australia needs to respond, to remain an attractive place to invest and to do business."

Perhaps this makes him a bigot in Gordon Brown's book?

This lesson is probably - hopefully - too late for Gordon Brown who seems unlikely still to be PM this time next Friday, but it's not for the UK. Whoever is Prime Minister then could do the country a favour and start thinking along similar lines. It would mean more pain for the public sector but with £50 billion or so a year spent on quangos there's no shortage of heads to swing the axe at.