Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of changing the Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST) on household food stress, which occurs when >25% of disposable income needs to be spent on food. METHODS: Weekly healthy meal plan costs for average-income (AI), low-income (LI) and welfare-dependent (WDI)...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/58391 |
| _version_ | 1848760248104386560 |
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| author | Landrigan, T. Kerr, Deborah Dhaliwal, S. Savage, V. Pollard, C. |
| author_facet | Landrigan, T. Kerr, Deborah Dhaliwal, S. Savage, V. Pollard, C. |
| author_sort | Landrigan, T. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of changing the Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST) on household food stress, which occurs when >25% of disposable income needs to be spent on food. METHODS: Weekly healthy meal plan costs for average-income (AI), low-income (LI) and welfare-dependent (WDI) families were calculated using the 2013 Western Australian (WA) Food Access and Costs Survey. Four GST scenarios were compared: 1) status quo; 2) increasing GST to 15%; 3) expanding base to include exempt foods at 10% GST; and 4) expanding base to include exempt foods and increasing the tax to 15%. RESULTS: Single-parent families risk food stress regardless of their income or the GST scenario (requiring 24-42% of disposable income). The probability of food stress in Scenario 1 is 100% for WDI two-parent families and 36% for LI earners. In Scenarios 3 and 4, food stress probability is 60-72% for two-parent LI families and AI single-parent families, increasing to 88-94% if residing in very remote areas. CONCLUSION: There is food stress risk among single-parent, LI and WDI families, particularly those residing in very remote areas. Implications for public health: Expanding GST places an additional burden on people who are already vulnerable to poor nutrition and chronic disease due to their socioeconomic circumstances. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:12:45Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-58391 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:12:45Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-583912017-11-24T05:45:56Z Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. Landrigan, T. Kerr, Deborah Dhaliwal, S. Savage, V. Pollard, C. OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of changing the Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST) on household food stress, which occurs when >25% of disposable income needs to be spent on food. METHODS: Weekly healthy meal plan costs for average-income (AI), low-income (LI) and welfare-dependent (WDI) families were calculated using the 2013 Western Australian (WA) Food Access and Costs Survey. Four GST scenarios were compared: 1) status quo; 2) increasing GST to 15%; 3) expanding base to include exempt foods at 10% GST; and 4) expanding base to include exempt foods and increasing the tax to 15%. RESULTS: Single-parent families risk food stress regardless of their income or the GST scenario (requiring 24-42% of disposable income). The probability of food stress in Scenario 1 is 100% for WDI two-parent families and 36% for LI earners. In Scenarios 3 and 4, food stress probability is 60-72% for two-parent LI families and AI single-parent families, increasing to 88-94% if residing in very remote areas. CONCLUSION: There is food stress risk among single-parent, LI and WDI families, particularly those residing in very remote areas. Implications for public health: Expanding GST places an additional burden on people who are already vulnerable to poor nutrition and chronic disease due to their socioeconomic circumstances. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/58391 10.1111/1753-6405.12714 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia unknown |
| spellingShingle | Landrigan, T. Kerr, Deborah Dhaliwal, S. Savage, V. Pollard, C. Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. |
| title | Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. |
| title_full | Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. |
| title_fullStr | Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. |
| title_short | Removing the Australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. |
| title_sort | removing the australian tax exemption on healthy food adds food stress to families vulnerable to poor nutrition. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/58391 |