Mr Barr will use an appearance at the AFR Tax Reform Summit on Wednesday to call for renewed leadership, with reform long overdue.

"Without reform the states will become even more reliant on inefficient taxes, which over the long term will be damaging to economic growth," he said.

His comments comes as business leaders express hope the Turnbull government, with newly installed Treasurer Scott Morrison, will lead more collaborative and productive negotiations.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Kate Carnell said the cabinet reshuffle made tax reform a more realistic possibility.

"Malcolm Turnbull has already indicated tax reform is back on the table and nothing is ruled out," she said. "This is good to see and something that needed to happen."

But Mr Barr said he was not confident Mr Turnbull would provide leadership and said a new Treasurer would not make any meaningful difference to the debate.

"I encourage Prime Minister Turnbull to build on the recent work of Council of Australian Governments to prioritise progress on reform of the federation and continue a serious discussion on taxation reform in Australia," he said.

Miranda Stewart, director of the Australian National University's Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, welcomed Mr Barr's statements.

"State and territory tax reform is a critical element for generating economic prosperity and benefits not just the reforming state but also the nation," she said.

Former federal opposition leader John Hewson said any reform of the system would be politically challenging for the Turnbull government.

He said the negotiations were complicated and there were a number of pressure points that needed to be addressed with premiers and chief ministers.

"We have had a number of these occasions in the past and [negotiations] have been plagued by short-term politics," he said.

"There is no doubt we need to have a full-scale discussion about tax reform without people being opportunistic."

Mr Carnell said she was disappointed by Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen's decision to rule out changes to the GST and described it as "retrograde".

But Mr Bowen said Labor was prepared to negotiate with the Coalition on cutting the company tax rate.

Mr Barr said the summit, which featured premiers, business and union leaders and economists, had already revealed support for the phased abolition of stamp duty in coming decades.

In 2012, the ACT government began an ambitious plan to phase out stamp duty and insurance taxes replacing the revenue with higher rates.

"The buyer of a $500,000 home is today saving about $5900 in stamp duty compared to before the start of tax reform," Mr Barr said.

"Lower stamp duty is also a positive for housing affordability and is beneficial for first-homes buyers, downsizers and interstate migrants to the ACT."

While realistic about the challenges of reform, Ms Carnell and Dr Hewson were both supportive of the proposal and said it should be replicated by other states and territories.

"The ACT has been ahead of the pack in terms of phasing out stamp duty and broadening the land tax and these are good steps to have taken," Ms Carnell said.

"To some extent, South Australia has moved to abolish stamp duty on commercial properties although they haven't quite taken the steps the ACT has."

Dr Hewson said stamp duty and taxes on insurance should be gradually phased out in other states and territories.

"[Stamp duty] is a transition tax that distorts things and we should be moving as far away from it as possible in a genuine tax reform," he said.

Mr Barr said the Turnbull government could begin by focusing on tax concessions for superannuation, which are the fastest-growing concessions in the budget.

"Funding for health and education over the next few years remains a major issue for state and territory governments, and I would encourage the Prime Minister to look at this area as a matter of priority," he said.

"All levels of government in Australia are facing revenue issues. At the state and territory level this is particularly evident in the areas of health and education as a result of Commonwealth cost shifting."