Public opinion and tax aversion in Australia

The passage of the GST legislation through the Senate brings to an end 25 y ears of debate over whether Australia should radically alter its tax system . This paper investigates the empirical problem of whether there were patte rns of public opinion indicating that voters may have been averse to one pa rticular aspect of taxation more than any other. The paper also addresses t he methodological problems involved in investigating the suggestion that vo ters expressed intransitive preferences in regard to taxing and spending.