Education should be GST-free
BY PHILIPPA STANFORD
ADELAIDE — The Australian Education Union's South Australian branch president, John Gregory, has called for all aspects of education to be totally exempt from the goods and services tax. According to Gregory, the Australian Tax Office's new tax system guide for schools outlines a complex process. The GST will cause "massive confusion" in education, he said.
"The guide explodes the myth perpetuated by the federal government that schooling would be GST-free. Many items will be subject to the GST, and even those that aren't will cost schools additional time and labour, because of complicated calculations about credit entitlements from the tax office", Gregory pointed out.
According to the guide, the GST costs will be passed on to students for school equipment and stationery. It also confirms that the government will take a cut from school fundraising efforts.
"Even a cake stall will be a hugely complicated affair, with sellers required to work out the market value of the cake compared with the sale price and determine whether it's being sold for more than 50% of the GST-inclusive market value, which would then classify it as taxable", Gregory said.
The education department has confirmed that, as well as each school having to obtain a GST business number, the canteen, the school council and the after school care program must also be registered as separate businesses, each with its own business number.
With only nine weeks before the GST's introduction, school staff have not received training on how to deal with it. The AEU is concerned that principals and support staff will be forced to act as tax collectors.