This tax encouraged individuals who owned large tracts of land to make it available for settlers. Much of this land was held by residents of England who rarely used their land. The goal was to see the land used more productively (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004). In 1915 the federal government instituted its own income tax as well. This federal tax rapidly swelled the country's income, and by 1918, income taxes made up one third of the federal government income and up to half of the states' incomes (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004).

This tax system was refined in 1942, with much of the federally-collected revenue being returned to the Territories and States. Currently, Australia uses a "pay-as-You-Earn" (PAYE) system for wages and salary, and a support "provisional tax" pay method for income other than wages or salary (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004).

Australia also passed a sales tax in 1930. This tax is applied to imports and is paid at the wholesale level. The wholesaler builds the cost of that tax into retail pricing plans (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004).

Australia embarked on a major restructuring of its economy in the 1980's (USDOE, 2004) after experience severe inflation (Stevens, 2003). As part of this restructuring, the country shifted its economic emphasis from domestic emphasis to a country that competes on the world market. They reduced high tariffs and other barriers to world trade, floated the exchange rate for the Australian dolor, deregulated banks, loosened rules for foreign banking, reorganized labor relations, privatized many public utilities, and overhauled their tax system. This overhaul included the establishment of a Goods and Services tax (USDOE, 2004).

FINANCIAL STATISTICS

Australia has a variety of natural resources including bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum (CIA, 2004). Industries include mining, manufacture of industrial and transportation equipment, chemicals, steel, and tourism (CIA, 2004). Agriculture makes up a small amount of the country's GNP, as only about 6 1/2% of the country is arable (CIA, 2004). Australia's economy is based on a capitalist system, and...

It grew by about 3% in 2003 (CIA, 2004).
PER CAPITA INCOME

Australia's population was just under 20 million in July of 2004 (CIA, 2004), with individual income, in U.S. dollars, at about $29,000 in 2003 with unemployment at about 6% (CIA, 2004). Inflation in Australia has varied widely over the past forty years as it has in most countries, from a low of 0% to a high of 17 1/2%. See the list below (Stevens, 2003):

Year Inflation Rate

1952 7 1/2%

1962 0

1972 5

1979 17 1/2%

1982 8

1992 2 1/2%

2002 2 1/2%

After the shock of high inflation in the late 1970's the Australian government worked hard to target the causes of high inflation and attempt to control them (Stevens, 2003), and in 2003 the country maintained its trend toward lower inflation rates at 2.8% (DFAT, 2004).

One advantage Australia has over most Western countries is that it has the capacity to produce nearly as much oil as it uses. It produces 731,000 bbl per day, and consumes 796,500 bbl per day. It produces more natural gas than it uses (production 9.74 billion cu m in 2001; consumption 23.44 billion cu m in 2001) (CIA, 2004).

Bibliography

Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (CIA). 2004. "Australia." The World Factbook. Accessed via the Internet 11/1/04. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/as.html#Intro

Commonwealth of Australia. 2004. "Australian Tax History." Accessed via the Internet 11/1/04. http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/content/tax_history.htm)

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia (DFAT). 2004. "Australian Government." Accessed via the Internet 11/1/04. http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/history.html

Stevens, G.R., Dep. Gov. To S. Australian Center for Economic Studies. 2003. "Inflation targeting: A Decade of Australian Experience," in Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin. April. Accessed via the Internet 11/1/04. www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Bulletin/bu_apr03/bu_0403_3.pdf

U.S. Department of State (USDOE). 2004. "Background Note:…