The Australian Government has released the final report of the Australia's Future Tax System Review.

The Government's initial response to the report can be found at www.futuretax.gov.au.

The Review took a 'root and branch' approach and examined Australian and State government taxes, and interactions with the transfer system in order to make recommendations to position Australia to deal with the demographic, social, economic and environmental challenges that lie ahead.

Since being established in 2008, the Panel provided many opportunities for people to make a submission and engaged with the community through public meetings and focus groups, meetings with representative business and community groups, discussions with other government departments and agencies, and through its tax and transfer policy conference held in June 2009.

Around 1,500 formal submissions were received, canvassing a wide-range of issues of concern to the community – an extremely rich source of information which helped the Panel shape its recommendations.

In addition, a two-day conference in June 2009 provided an opportunity for leading international experts and a range of academics and stakeholders to debate leading edge tax and transfer policy issues.