Forwarded by Christine Howes: Education, HON. DEAN WELLS 13/6/99 Schools will be tax collectors under a GST Queensland Education Minister Dean Wells today said the Commonwealth Government's Great Secret Tax deal with the Democrats would make tax collectors of schools and add an unnecessary bureaucratic layer to the administration of education. Mr Wells said the implementation of a GST system for Education Queensland offices and 1300 schools across the State would be costly and complicated. "Queensland schools are currently exempt from wholesale sales tax and adopt simple measures in administration - they quote an exemption number. "The introduction of a GST will add an entirely new bureaucratic layer to the administrative structures within every school. Mr Wells said it was not appropriate to spend taxpayers dollars on systems changes, departmental training and onerous administration at the expense of educational outcomes. "Schools will necessarily become tax collectors and existing de-centralised accounting systems will need to be reconfigured," he said. Mr Wells said peak parent bodies would also be subject to a GST, placing additional pressure on limited voluntary services. "Parents who have previously been asked to ice the cake will now be asked to provide the flour," he said. "The GST will act as a deterrent to the involvement of parents and teachers in voluntary associations and activities essential to educational programs. "Food and drinks sold to students from tuckshops will attract a GST, as will school bus services, school uniforms, excursions not directly related to curriculum, fees charged for equipment hire such as musical instruments and the sales of goods and services for many fundraising purposes such as school fetes." Mr Wells said low-income groups already experiencing difficulty in meeting the costs of schooling would be hardest hit. "The very items which low-income families have trouble paying for will be those most affected by a GST," he said. Mr Wells said Education Queensland, with twice as many smaller schools as Victoria and 50% more than NSW, would be forced to divert funding from educational services to GST implementation and administration. "Money spent on training staff in administering the GST could be and should be otherwise spent on improving literacy and numeracy standards,' Mr Wells said. "Parents will also be hit with a tax on remedial tuition and ancillary subjects and activities essential to the provision of a well-rounded education. "Many of these children are enrolled in smaller, rural or less wealthy schools." Mr Wells said the Queensland Teachers Union had estimated the increased cost of sending a child to school would be at least $150-$200 a year. "Combine this with a 10% tax on books and the equation is simple - the debasement of education," he said. "It makes no sense for governments to both subsidise and tax school education at the same time - this can only lead to fiscal, educational and social inefficiency." Further Information: Teresa Mullan 07 3235 4593 or 0414 287 860 ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
