Australia had seen nothing like the tax reform program that introduced the Goods and Services Tax and there won't be anything like it ever again.
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That's former treasurer Peter Costello's response when he's asked if it can ever be matched.
"My answer to that is you only have to introduce a GST once. The introduction of the GST was mammoth. There had been nothing like it before and there will be nothing like it again," he said at the National Archives of Australia launch of the 1998 and 1999 cabinet documents.
"You can't do this stuff again. That's why I don't think there will be a tax reform like it again."
The cabinet documents include a number relating to the introduction of the GST which came into effect on July 1, 2000 - 20 years ago next July.
But they don't necessarily tell the full story. Nowhere is the proposed GST rate of 10 per cent mentioned.
Mr Costello cited one document noted simply that the treasurer presented a proposal for tax reform which was adopted.
"That meeting went for seven hours," he said.
During that meeting, he used a computer to model the effect of different tax thresholds and rates.
"PowerPoint had just been invented. I became the government's PowerPoint expert," he said.
"Coming out of that cabinet meeting after seven hours and I said to one of my senior colleagues 'what do you think - you reckon it's a goer?' The colleague said 'Dunno - but I like the colours'."
Mr Costello said what was going to decide the outcome was whether or not the government could bring along the public.
"The only talk I ever hear of the GST today is people who say wouldn't it work better if we had a wider base or a higher rate."
Having witnessed consumption tax proposals being floated since 1971, the impetus for the GST was a High Court decision invalidating state indirect taxes and leaving the Commonwealth to make up the shortfall.
John Howard could have got by with minimal change but in August 1997 he invited Australians on a "great tax adventure".
"We thought if we are going to do this we might as well fix the whole system," Mr Costello said.
Over the next year a task force formulated the package which was considered at nine cabinet meetings over four weeks.
This policy was released on August 13, 1998 and gave the government an immediate boost in the polls. Seventeen days later and five months early, the government called the 1998 election.
One problem was John Howard's emphatic declaration in 1995 that there would "never ever" be a GST on his watch.
The election campaign was dominated by the GST and this was the closest to a single-issue election in Australian history.
The coalition won, although its majority was reduced. On December 2, 1998 the government introduced 15 bills implementing the new tax system, following with a dozen more in March 1999, making a total of 27 tax bills.
The aim was to fully legislate the new tax system by June 30, 1999 then roll it out over the next year to start on July 1, 2000.
"Part of what was driving that was to get it in place before the Sydney Olympics so tourists to Australia would pay GST," he said.
One difficult argument to counter was that the GST would surely be increased over time.
The government got around that with the commitment that the entire GST take would go to states and territories and only with their unanimous agreement could the rate be increased.
"Beyond my wildest expectation, that lock mechanism has proven itself," Mr Costello said.
With Tasmanian independent Brian Harradine blindsiding the government in rejecting the legislation, the Australian Democrats later proved more amenable, negotiating a deal to back it in return for exemptions, particularly on food.
The legislation finally passed on June 28, 1999.
Australian Associated Press
