Although there have been just two periods each of Labor and Coalition governments in the last 30 years, the Commonwealth tax take was on average higher under the Coalition during that time.
Tax revenue as a share of the economy was highest under prime minister John Howard.
Next was the current Coalition government, elected in 2013, followed by the Labor government of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, then that of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
However, direct comparisons are complicated by, among other things, the introduction of the federal goods and services tax (GST) in July 2000, which one expert explained would have pushed up federal taxes as a share of the economy.
