Government to go ahead with GST changes with or without states agreement

The Federal Government says it does not need the states and territories to agree to its proposed GST changes.

Under the reform, New South Wales and Victoria will form the new benchmark for calculating the payments.

It will mean each state and territory would receive around 70 cents for each GST dollar that’s collected.

Treasurer Scott Morrison says he plans to get consensus from all jurisdictions, but he doesn’t need it.

“I think it’s the right thing to do, it’s certainly the right thing to try,” he said.

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Earlier this year, the Productivity Commission handed up a report arguing GST revenue should be carved up according to an “equalisation to the average” formula, which would have seen large gains for NSW and Western Australia, at the expense of all other states.

Today the Treasurer announced the government had rejected those recommendations.