Some economists were intrigued by a chart in Martin Parkinson's recent speech that highlighted a (possibly statistical) disconnect between consumer spending--as measured by the ABS--and GST collected by the tax office. The RBA's Phil Lowe comments:
I think the change in household spending patterns is another. As I said in my remarks, household consumption growth has been pretty reasonable, in line with household income growth, but it’s been services that have been growing strongly, not goods, and there are a whole range of services where there is no GST tax levied. And so the composition of consumption growth has not been helpful for the GST revenue. So they’re two factors, but I think you’re stretching my area of competence here.
