Thank you for the question.
I very much appreciate it.
We have significant, major concerns about the so-called luxury tax. I call it more of a tax on manufacturers, because that's really what it is.
The original goal for the government, I believe, was to bring in around $9 million on that tax. The tax came into effect on September 1, 2022, and to my knowledge, no tax has been collected at all. Instead, what we're seeing is a loss of $1.1 billion in revenue for aerospace companies. I should say that a large portion of that loss is related to the supply chain right across the country, so it's absolutely critical.
We're seeing a loss of up to 4,000 jobs within the industry as a direct result of this tax. We're seeing a $274-million loss in salaries to workers, and these workers are in high-paid, family-supporting jobs. We're seeing the government lose $55 million in income tax off that, and then there's $55 million lost in GST sales.
I'm seeing a lot of people losing. No one seems to be winning from this tax, and the tax seems to be doing the exact opposite of taxing these products. Instead, it's the workers and the industry right across the country that are taking the brunt of it.
It was interesting, because the United States brought in a similar tax and saw similar results. It's something we've been warning about. It was within two years, I believe, that the United States repealed that tax because of the impact on workers, the impact on jobs and the loss of revenue. It was not only that, but also the loss of capacity and capability within the country. There's also a reputational aspect here that goes around the world. We have a world-leading aerospace sector. We should be doing everything we can to support it, instead of putting on this punitive tax.
I should add that, when I was here in the past, union representatives were also with me. When you have manufacturers and union representatives all saying, “Rethink this tax; it's not good,” I think there are some significant negative repercussions.