Mr Keating wrote in an article for Fairfax Media<\/a>.<\/p>\nHe said increasing the GST to 15 per cent would collect an additional $33 billion each year, but warned it would lead governments into \u201cbad habits\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a further 15 years from now\u2026 a similar group of people will be arguing to take the GST from a then 15 per cent to 20 per cent \u2013 where most European states are now,\u201d said Mr Keating.<\/p>\n
Mr Keating said the extra tax would be paid for by ordinary income earners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe GST is just a flat, bang you over the head, tax. It changes nothing; no behaviour, other than to put the tax weight onto the wrong people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said state premiers like Mike Baird and Jay Weatherill were right to worry about cuts to health funding, but said a 15 per cent GST was not the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe remedy might be to hypothecate a modest increase in the GST to hospitals \u2013 and only to hospitals, with back up agreements between the Commonwealth and the States to guarantee the expenditure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least people would know where the money was going and why.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiving the political system $33 billion to spend at its sole discretion does nobody a service.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big increase in the rate of the GST will only lead the political system into continuing bad habits. And for the obvious reason: an increase in the GST on this scale is fundamentally a bad idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Keating\u2019s comments were widely seen as a slap-down of the Turnbull Government, which is believed to be considering a GST increase \u2013 a move that has been vocally supported by Jay Weatherill.<\/p>\n
But Mr Keating\u2019s comments do not align with Bill Shorten\u2019s position either, who has vowed to never-ever raise the GST.<\/p>\n
Asked on FIVEAA breakfast to confirm the government\u2019s position on the GST, Christopher Pyne refused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have a tax white paper this year, in the first part of the year, and that will make it very clear where the Government is heading in terms of tax policy,\u201d Mr Pyne said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the moment we\u2019re very happy to have a debate. We should be mature enough as a country to have a national conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Mr Weatherill and Mr Shorten were having a \u201cding-dong argument\u201d because Mr Shorten wanted to play politics, while Mr Weatherill was looking for a way to increase revenue.<\/p>\n
LISTEN to Christopher Pyne and Anthony Albanese here:<\/h3>\n