Question

The Bruce Highway (from Cooroy to Curra) is currently being upgraded. The expenditure of the second stage of the project is 513 million dollars and the Australian Federal Government has contributed 388 million of those dollars whilst the Queensland State Government has contributed the remaining 125 million.

Answer the following questions:

1. The Queensland Government proposes collecting an increasing portion of every Queensland residents' income as their income increases. What type of tax is this an example of? Blank 1. Type H for Head, P for Proportional or G for Progressive.
2. If the Queensland Government wishes to raise its funds via a head tax from its 4.9 million citizens, how much would each citizen have to pay? $Blank 2. Answer to the nearest whole dollar (using no decimal places).
3. For the project to be a worthwhile expenditure for the Queensland Government, the marginal benefit of the project must be equal to or greater than what value? $Blank 3 million. Answer in millions of dollars (with no decimal places).

Answer 1

(a) P

When average tax rate increases with increase in taxable income, the tax is progressive.

(b) Payment per citizen ($) = Cost paid by Queensland / Population = 125 million / 4.9 million = 25.5 ~ 26

(c) Marginal benefit must be at least $125 million which is the total expenditure incurred by Queensland.