How do we decide if a tax is good or bad? And which ones are ‘damaging’ Australia’s economy?

Experts say stamp duties and income taxes have a much higher burden than more efficient policies, such as GST

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How do we judge whether one tax is better than another? That question will lie at the heart of the tax reform agenda at the economic reform roundtable on Thursday.

Four principles have guided tax reform over the decades: efficiency, equity, simplicity and sustainability (or revenue adequacy).