Taxation Revenue, Australia methodology

Taxes collected from employers, levied either as a proportion of payroll or as a fixed amount per person employed.

Taxes levied on a specified good, or range of goods, intended for domestic consumption other than taxes levied exclusively on the importation of goods. Excises may be imposed at any stage of production or distribution and the assessment for tax may take into account such factors as weight, strength, quantity or value of the goods. Excises are not limited to those taxes collected under Excise Acts and include taxes on electricity, gas and agricultural production. Includes levies on statutory corporations.

Taxes levied on the operation of motor vehicles whether paid by households or corporations. These imposts are treated as taxes, rather than regulatory fees, because of the significant amount of revenue they generate. Excludes taxes on third party insurance which are included in taxes on insurance.

Taxes levied on gambling and betting stakes. Includes taxes on lottery tickets, poker machines, casinos, racing and football pools. The taxes may be collected either from the gambler as a percentage of his/her stake or from entities providing the gambling service either as a licence fee or percentage of their gross income from gambling. Excludes taxes on individual gains from gambling.

Taxes levied in respect of the use or ownership of immovable property. Includes land taxes and rates.

Taxes levied specifically on insurance services. Includes taxes levied on insurance premiums and contributions collected to finance services which reduce insurable risk.

Taxes and stamp duties levied on specified imported or exported goods. Excludes taxes collected on imports as part of a general tax on goods, and excises applicable to both imported and domestically produced goods.

Taxes on the use or ownership of property, and taxes on property transfers. Includes taxes on immovable property and taxes on financial and capital transactions.

Taxes levied on the production, sale, transfer, leasing or delivery of goods and rendering of services. Excludes taxes levied on the use of goods or on permission to use goods or to perform activities. From 1 July 2000 includes GST revenue receivable by the Commonwealth Government, gross of the cost of collection but net of input tax credits payable.

Taxes levied on the use of goods and taxes levied in respect of permission to perform activities. Excludes taxes levied on the value or quantity of the goods themselves which are included in Taxes on the provision of goods and services.

Statistics presented in Taxation Revenue, Australia (cat. no. 5506.0) are based on information provided in, or underlying the published accounting statements and reports of governments and their authorities. For the Commonwealth Government and all state governments the primary data sources are:

• public accounts and budget management systems of state treasuries and the Australian Department of Finance;
• annual reports of government departments and authorities;
• budget papers; and
• reports of the Auditors–General.
   

For local government, the main data sources are annual local government consolidated data collections conducted on behalf of a range of stakeholders by departments of local government in each of the jurisdictions, as well as published financial statements.

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.

The term 'Government Finance Statistics' refers to statistics that measure the financial activities of governments and reflect the impact of those activities on other sectors of the economy. The Australian system of Government Finance Statistics (GFS), is designed to provide statistical information on public sector entities in Australia classified in a uniform and systematic way. GFS taxation statistics are a subset of GFS.

GFS enables policy makers and users to analyse the financial operations and financial position of the public sector by the level of government, institutional sector or set of transactions. The system of GFS is based on international standards set out in the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA) and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM). The System of National Accounts has been updated and the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2009. The ABS compilation of GFS adopts the updated 2008 SNA treatment in two cases. The first is that Defence Weapons Platforms are treated as gross fixed capital formation. The second is in the treatment of Special Drawing Rights. These changes have been updated in the Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2005 (cat. no. 5514.0), but do not impact on taxation statistics. The ABS GFS Manual has also been updated to include the treatment of emissions schemes in ABS GFS taxation data.

The IMF has published a revised Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM 2014), and the Australian system has been updated to reflect the new international standards. These changes are presented in the Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2015 (cat. no. 5514.0), and will be implemented for data reported for periods from 1 July 2017 onwards.

The system of GFS provides details of revenues, expenses, cash flows and assets and liabilities of the Australian public sector and comprises units which are owned and/or controlled by the Commonwealth, state and local governments.

This release presents GFS taxation revenue statistics on an accrual accounting basis for each jurisdiction for the general government sector.

Annual Taxation Revenue statistics are released within 11 months of the end of the financial year.

The main influence on the accuracy of GFS data is non–sampling error. Non–sampling error arises from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. The most significant of these errors are misreporting of data, and processing errors. Every effort is made to minimise error by working closely with data providers, training of processing staff and efficient data processing procedures.

Revisions are made to the annual Taxation Revenue data as required as a result of new and updated information available from providers.

In 1998–99, the ABS adopted an accrual basis of recording for its GFS. Prior to this the ABS GFS was cash based. In addition to the information published, some GFS data are available back to 1961–62. However, due to the different compilation and data sources, cash flow data from 1998–99 onwards are not directly comparable with earlier cash data. The ABS has not established a quantitative measure of this break in series because the existing data sources do not permit this. Data on a pure accruals basis are only available from 1998–99.

In 1992–93 the Commonwealth and state governments implemented the uniform presentation framework (UPF) in their budget documents to introduce uniformity into the presentation of GFS.

From 2008–09 onwards, Australian Accounting Standard Board 1049 Whole of Government and General Government Sector Financial Reporting (AASB 1049) has replaced Australian Accounting Standard 31 Financial Reporting by Government (AAS 31) as the standard Governments should follow in the preparation of their financial statements. A key feature of AASB 1049 is that where the Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2005 (cat. no. 5514.0) differs from the accounting standards, a reconciliation to the key GFS aggregates and an explanation for these must be presented in a reconciliation statement. Data presented in this publication may differ from data published by Treasuries in their reconciliation statements for the key aggregates where Treasuries have not adjusted their data to a GFS basis, where ABS have a different view on classification treatments, where ABS employ a different consolidation methodology, or where data have been included that were not available when a jurisdiction's GFS presentations were published.

The statistics in this release have been compiled using standard definitions, classifications and treatment of government financial transactions to facilitate comparisons between levels of government and between states within a level of government. However, the statistics also reflect real differences between the administrative and accounting arrangements of the various jurisdictions and these differences need to be taken into account when making interstate comparisons. For example, only a state level of government exists in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ACT government performs a number of functions which are undertaken by local government authorities in other jurisdictions.

To compile statistics about the financial activities of a particular level of government, or any other grouping of public sector units, transactions and debtor/creditor relationships between units within the chosen grouping (sector or subsector) have to be matched and eliminated to avoid double counting. The process of matching and eliminating these items within the chosen group is known as 'consolidation'.

The publication Taxation Revenue, Australia (cat. no. 5506.0) contains an Explanatory Note and Glossary that provide information on the data sources, terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with these statistics

Detailed information on the concepts, sources and methods used in compiling GFS can be found in Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2005 (cat. no. 5514.0).

If the information you require is not available from the published data then the ABS may have other relevant data available on request. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email client.services@abs.gov.au or public.finance@abs.gov.au. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.