In August last year, Tony Abbott called to critics of the 2014 Budget, “If you don’t like what we’re doing, come up with your own alternative!” He may be regretting those words now with the The Australia Institute releases its report entitled It’s the revenue stupid: Ideas for a brighter budget.
The report by the independent public policy think tank says the Government has a revenue problem as opposed to a spending problem.
“The Government’s single-minded focus of cutting spending primarily to low income households in order to reduce the budget deficit has been rejected by economists, rejected by voters and rejected by the senate. It has been branded unfair and the government has been thrown into confusion and chaos as it searches for an alternative budget plan”.
The paper, which was commissioned by action group GetUp!, proposes eight measures – some more difficult to swallow than others – that could earn the budget $40 billion in savings each year.
Read It’s the Revenue Stupid: Ideas for a brighter budget here.
Which of these ideas do you think the Government is most likely to go for? And which will never see the light of day?