The former consumer watchdog has warned the federal government cannot deliver the essential services Australians demand without increasing taxes.
Rod Sims, who was the chair of the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission until earlier this year, said: "If you want more spent on health care or education, then taxes must rise."
"Only by raising taxes will we get our debt and deficit under control. I can see no other practical way," Mr Sims will tell a revenue summit organised by the left-leaning think tank The Australia Institute.
While Mr Sims is calling for government revenue to be increased, he is not calling for the stage 3 tax cuts for higher-income earners to be repealed.
Instead, he is urging the federal government to return to more controversial and previously abandoned policy ideas such as carbon and mining taxes, and to target oil and gas companies that are recording record profits.
"Australia has likely maxed out on raising corporate or personal taxes," Mr Sims will tell the summit.
"We are already heavily reliant on these two taxes as they amount to more than 70 per cent of our tax revenue."
Mr Sims is urging the government to follow advice from the United Nations to tax "excessive" profits recorded by oil and gas companies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We are just not taxing them enough given the environment we are in," Mr Sims told the ABC.
"If they make returns way more than they ever expected to justify their investment, then I think it is only fair the community gets a better return."
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has already confirmed this month's budget will include changes to multinational company tax.
More calls for stage 3 tax cuts to be scrapped
Mr Sim's call for higher taxes is likely to renew debate about whether the federal government should repeal the stage 3 income cuts legislated in 2019.
The changes scrap the 37 per cent tax bracket for those earning above $120,000 a year, ensuring they pay the same rate as someone on $45,000.
The move is expected to cost the budget $243 billion over 10 years.
Some argue that money could be better spent on improving health care or paying essential staff higher wages.
Mr Chalmers insists the government's policy has not changed, but the tax cuts are being reviewed given rising inflation, interest rates, and the prospect of a recession in the United States.
Peter Davidson from the Australian Council of Social Service said scrapping the cuts would help deliver some of the services Mr Sims referred to.
"It is beyond belief that the government would even be considering cutting $18 billion a year from the revenue base when there are so many gaps in essential services for people that need them," Mr Davidson told the ABC.
"The gaps in aged care funding could be covered, including the necessary pay increase for aged care workers."
While debate continues inside Labor, some economists are arguing the purported impact of the stage 3 tax cuts may be exaggerated.
"My own view is the stage 3 tax cuts are not the big deal they've been made out to be," Robert Breunig from the Australian National University said.
"All they're doing is giving back a little bit of what we call bracket creep … they're not in any way a big change in the overall way we tax people."
Richard Dennis, the executive director of The Australia Institute, disagreed.
"This is the most expensive tax cut in Australia at around a quarter of a trillion dollars over 10 years," Mr Dennis told the ABC.
"These were tax cuts invented before we heard of COVID, before Russia invaded Ukraine, and before we saw real wages fall while interest rates soared."
Mr Dennis said the money could be better spent on improving wages for aged care, childcare and disability workers.
"There are so many holes in Australia and the stage 3 tax cuts provide a unique opportunity to fix them," Mr Dennis said.
