Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out any changes to the GST late last year.Credit:AAP
Officials have argued that theGST is currently applied to food in a confusing manner,citing examples such as packaged salads,brioche buns,smoothie packs and dried fruit as being taxed differently,depending on how they are packaged,marketed and consumed.
The ATO's advocacy on the topic was revealed exclusively byThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Heraldon Saturday,after leaked documents showed the taxation office was preparing a wish list to be presented to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
"The Government is focused on lowering taxes for Australians,and as the Prime Minister said last year we will not be making any changes to the GST,"a spokesman said.
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Mr Morrison,who won last weekend's election in a stunning victory that has bolstered the Coalition's economic narrative,considered broadening the base or increasing the rate of the GST when he was treasurer in 2016.
But he ruled out any such review as prime minister,telling Sky News he would not touch the GST if the Coalition was re-elected.
"If you were to do something like that,you'd have to take it to an election. That's not what we're doing,"Mr Morrison said at the time.
"That's what we said at the last election. I mean,you know,if anything I'm pretty up front. I think I'm pretty clear about things and you know,if we wanted to do something like that,we'd take it to the Australian people and we don't plan to do that."