Treasury Secretary Dr Martin Parkinson has slammed sections of the business community for repeatedly calling for the federal government to cut the corporate tax rate and increase the GST, saying "a lot of what this debate is about is people saying of government, 'take money from the citizenry at large and give it to me'."

Dr Parkinson, who spoke at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia in Melbourne on Thursday, says Australians need to start talking more about the trade-offs we have to make to achieve important economic objectives.

Treasury Secretary Dr Martin Parkinson delivers the keynote address at a Committee for Economic Development event in Melbourne. Credit:Josh Robenstone

This means different groups in society need to agree on the best ways to create a "more prosperous and stable country" and this will necessitate a debate about tax reform.

But he said some of the loudest voices in the current tax reform debate were coming from 'vested interests' who keep calling for a cut to the corporate tax rate and an increase in the GST.