<P> John Howard was re-elected leader of the Liberal party in 1995, and pledged "never, ever" to introduce the GST . Howard led the Liberal - National Coalition to a large victory in the 1996 federal election . However, before the 1998 election, Howard proposed a GST that would replace all existing sales taxes, as well as applying to all goods and services . At the election, the Howard Government suffered a swing against it of 4.61% at the election, achieving a two - party - preferred vote of only 49.02%, compared with Labor on 50.98% . Nevertheless, the incumbent government retained a majority of seats in the lower house and Howard described the election win as a "mandate for the GST". Lacking a Senate majority, and with Labor opposed to the introduction of the GST, the government turned to the minor parties such as the Australian Democrats to gain the necessary support to get the necessary legislation through the Senate . </P> <P> A prominent selling point of the legislation was that all the revenue raised by the GST would be distributed to the states . In 1999 an agreement was reached with the state and territory governments that their various duties, levies and taxes on consumption would be removed over time, with the consequent budget shortfall being replaced by GST income distributed by the Commonwealth Grants Commission . Furthermore, federally levied personal income tax and company tax was reduced to offset the GST . </P> <P> During the 1998 election campaign, the leader of the Australian Democrats, Meg Lees, stated that her party was opposed to a GST unless food, books and tourism packages sold offshore were exempt, and other compensating tax measures were implemented . The government initially stated that exemptions to the GST were not possible, and looked most likely to pass the GST legislation with the support of independent Senator Brian Harradine . However a compromise was eventually reached with Lees, involving most basic food items being exempt from the GST, the GST on library purchases of books being refunded, a temporary 8% refund on school textbooks, increases to welfare payments, and greater powers to the ACCC to oversee the implementation of the new tax regime . A proposal to exempt tampons from the GST was dismissed by Howard . The legislation was passed on 28 June 1999 as A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 . It gained assent on 8 July 1999 and came into operation on 1 July 2000 . </P> <P> All Australian businesses whose turnover is above the minimum threshold (currently $75,000 per annum) are required to register for GST . Businesses whose turnover is below the threshold may register if they wish to . </P>

What piece of legislation primarily governs gst in australia
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