Government banks on revenue from tobacco crackdown and GST compliance to bring in billions in federal budget

theguardian.com:

Surging tax receipts and tweaks to existing programs will swell revenue by $134.8bn over the five years to 2026-27 compared with forecasts in Labor’s first budget seven months ago.

Of that, personal income taxes will contribute $74.1bn, buoyed by higher wages and more people in work. Companies will pay $52.7bn extra, thanks to higher commodity prices and a better-than-predicted outlook for non-financial firms, according to the budget.

Other policy changes will funnel $19.1bn more into revenue, with a boost to GST compliance lifting receipts by $7.6bn. The ATO will receive almost $589m over four years to fund the efforts.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

The government will also crack down on illicit tobacco and increase tobacco excise by 5% annually for three years from 1 September. That will lift receipts by $3.3bn and GST revenue by $290m over five years from 2022-23, the budget papers show.

“These changes to tobacco excise are part of the government’s response to the National Tobacco Strategy and related initiatives on vaping and smoking prevention and cessation, and an enhanced regulatory approach to vaping,” the budget papers say.

The implementation of a global minimum tax and a domestic minimum tax on multinationals will increase receipts by $370m and increase payments by $111m over the five years from 2022-23.

Applying to firms with annual global revenue of about $1.2bn or more, a minimum of 15% tax on earnings is aimed at preventing a “‘race to the bottom’ on corporate tax rates, and protects our corporate tax base”, the budget papers say. “A domestic minimum tax would give Australia first claim on top-up tax for any low-taxed domestic