The Shadow Minister for Sport and Youth Affairs, Senator Kate Lundy, said today that the Federal Government’s GST is an unfair burden on all aspects of sport and recreation, not just the Olympic Games.
While the IOC and SOCOG are rightly concerned that the imposition of a GST will cause a blow-out in the Olympic’s budget, I am equally concerned about household budgets being blown-out by the GST, Senator Lundy said.
If the GST is a grossly unfair burden on the Olympic Games then it is also a burden on every aspect of sport and recreation in Australia.
Australia’s $8 billion a year sports industry will be adversely effected by the GST, yet the Federal Sports Minister’s major concern is only how this impacts on the Olympics. If the GST will have an adverse effect on the Games, imagine how it will hurt local and community run sport where an increase in costs will lower participation levels.
You only have to look to New Zealand where the introduction of a GST resulted in a decrease in sporting volunteers and administrators due to the burden of managing complex administrative tasks.
The GST places an intolerable strain on all sporting clubs and their volunteers and it will force many sporting organisations to use more of their limited resources on administration and compliance costs, Senator Lundy said.
The Coalition Government cannot possibly justify imposing a 10% tax on every school student or family member who wants to partake in some form of sport or recreational activity.
Contact: Kate Lundy or Simon Tatz on (02) 6230 0411 or 0418 488295
