Coalition Leader Tony Abbott has offered tax breaks for the bush in a last-minute bid to win the support of the independents and convince them his party has the best regional policies.
The Australian Financial Review reports that the Coalition has proposed a two-year zonal taxation pilot scheme, costing up to $200 million.
Independents Tony Windsor and Bob Katter have both long been advocates of zonal taxation, which involves offering favourable tax treatment to attract people to regional areas and compensate for inadequate services and infrastructure.
The Coalition's pilot scheme would be available in five regional areas and would be particularly suited to parts of Mr Katter's North Queensland electorate of Kennedy.
A proposal for the introduction of zonal taxation was initially included in a pre-election policy drafted by Nationals regional development spokesman Barnaby Joyce but was dumped by the Coalition during the campaign as it came under pressure over its spending promises.
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