If you want tax cuts, find ways to raise more revenue: Chalmers
As details of a post-election Treasury Department briefing to Chalmers suggested it believes the government needs higher taxes and less spending to repair the budget, the treasurer said next month's three-day roundtable would also focus on ways to make the tax system simpler for both workers and businesses.
But the Coalition accused Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of lying to the voting public, saying the Treasury briefing revealed the depths of the problem facing the budget.
All areas of tax are expected to be part of the discussion during August's economic roundtable at which up to 30 people from government, unions, business and community organisations will work through proposals to increase the rate at which the economy can grow and lift living standards.
Treasury's incoming government brief, parts of which were released to the ABC under freedom of information laws, showed the department argued that 'improvements to the budget will need to come from economic growth, additional revenue and spending reductions'.
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It also noted that 'tax should be raised as part of broader tax reform'.
Chalmers, who heads to South Africa this week for a G20 meeting of treasurers and finance ministers, said it was clear more had to be done to make the budget – forecast to show a $42.1 billion deficit this financial year – sustainable.
He said he was looking for a broad array of proposals that either left the budget no worse off or improved the bottom line.
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