PM bucks World with Tax hIkes

From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
Full Story at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12497889%255E601,00.html
David Uren, Economics correspondent
March 10, 2005

JOHN Howard and Peter Costello have markedly increased the tax burden on Australians over the past eight years, in striking contrast to the sustained period of tax relief enjoyed by taxpayers in most nations around the world.
The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, one of the world's leading economic policy organisations, has found Australia stands almost alone in raising taxes over the past eight years – a period in which most other developed countries have been cutting. Iceland is the only other nation to buck the trend.

Putting further pressure on the Howard Government to pursue more taxation reform, the OECD annual review of the way countries tax wages shows that the poorest people in Australia have suffered the biggest average tax increases.