GST is back on the table An Abbott government? Tony Abbott has revealed the goods and services tax could be included in a full review of the tax system if the Coalition is elected, raising the prospect the 10 per cent rate could be lifted or the tax broadened to include food, education and health services. The decision to review the controversial tax, which Labor ducked with its Henry tax review in 2008, will likely invite a ferocious scare campaign from the government in the run-up to the September 14 election. Within hours of Mr Abbott revealing the scope of his proposed taxation white paper, the government went on the warpath, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard warning of an expanded GST and "all of the cost of living problems that that would give Australian families." But Mr Abbott vowed any changes to the taxation system, including the GST, would be introduced only after they were taken to voters. "Anything we might do arising from our white paper we would seek a mandate for, not at this election but at the election after," Mr Abbott told ABC radio. The combined impact of exemptions from the GST negotiated at the time of its introduction is $22.85 billion a year in forgone revenue. The exemptions also make the tax more complex to administer, although they do make it less painful, especially for those on lower incomes. Faced with a difficult fiscal situation made worse by unfunded promises, Mr Abbott has hosed down expectations of lower business taxes under a Coalition government to offset his paid parental leave scheme. A previously promised 1.5 percentage point cut in company tax at the last election is now merely a pledge to "strive for a modest company tax cut" in the first term. Undertaking his own version of the budget hard-sell after his official reply speech on Thursday evening, the Opposition Leader reaffirmed his commitment to slow the ramp-up to the 12 per cent superannuation guarantee by two years, and to commission a comprehensive white paper on taxation. "There will be a widespread chance to contribute," he said of the public-consultation approach to be followed. We certainly don't want to squib this process the way the government did with the Henry review. Asked subsequently to clarify if the GST was on the table or not, he said: "We will have a comprehensive debate about tax reform [but] we haven't even won a first term, let alone a second term. Who knows what people might put up to us - then we will have a white paper, informed by the best expertise the Commonwealth can muster in the wake of that consultation, and if there were to be any changes in the second term, we'll seek a mandate for them. The government also argued the proposed two-year delay in the delivery of 12 per cent superannuation under a Coalition government was merely a forerunner to a complete abandonment of the shift up from 9 per cent, due to begin from this July. It says the effect of the slowdown would reduce the average 30-year-old worker's retirement pool by $20,000, but staying with the 9 per cent rate would cost the same worker $127,000. The burgeoning hip-pocket debate comes as a new survey found Mr Abbott had surpassed Ms Gillard in overall mentions across electronic media as he casts off his "Dr No" tag by backing government decisions. A nationwide analysis of talk-back radio and the micro-blog site Twitter has found there is a renewed public interest in policy since the election date was announced in February. The iSentia survey suggests Mr Abbott's decision to fully back the national disability insurance scheme DisabilityCare, including an increase to the Medicare levy to help fund it, may have impressed voters. John Chalmers, iSentia's group communications manager, said the Opposition Leader now appears to be getting as much credit for the landmark socio-economic program as the government. "Overall, it seems likely that the NDIS is playing just as well for Abbott as Gillard ... and any policy it makes from now on, unless it's strongly opposed by Abbott, will be seen just as much his as hers," Mr Chalmers told Fairfax Media.