Pericles,

Given that the Howard government steadily reduced tax rates, your statement is without foundation.

That they received more tax in spite of lowering taxes is because they grew the economy faster than anyone else over a similar period. The booming economy left companies and individuals with far more profit and money in their pocket, and the smaller tax rates still yielded higher tax yield.

Juliar and her economic vandals are happily reversing this trend with predictable results. Companies and individuals are making less profit, and the tax yield as a proportion of GDP has fallen.

Shadow Minister , pity but your wasting your time , trying to educate Goons is a futile exercise .

Tap-dancing is your forte, Shadow Minister, I have to admire that.

>>The booming economy left companies and individuals with far more profit and money in their pocket, and the smaller tax rates still yielded higher tax yield.<<

So Howard was responsible for the boom years of the global economy, was he? For the substantial growth of our major export markets? In the words of the prophet, yeah, right.

The fact that he was able to use this universal glow of prosperity to dip unnoticed into our wallets doesn't change the fact that he took more in taxes than he paid out in services.

Result: budget surplus, yes?

Or have you another method of achieving this outcome?

The tap-dancing part is the way you manage to sidestep-and-reverse-chasse the GFC choice that we faced: tax-and-spend or borrow-and-spend. If you have an alternative - such as a "let them eat cake" approach that allowed businesses to go bankrupt because, well, they deserve it for being so stupid, then please feel free to articulate it.

Pericles,

You have finally discovered the coalition's dastardly plan to get to surplus, keep spending less than income (especially on wasteful moronic schemes). If Labor learnt of this they could seriously challenge the coalition's economic supremacy.

A small portion of the debt is due to the GFC, the rest is due to Labor's incompetence.

Spot on Julie Bishop.Many people point out that Australias debt is quite low compared to other western nations. What they forget is that these same nations were already hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars in debt even BEFORE the GFC hit. While Australias debt was virtually zero and we even had a surplus at that time. Cheryl says that we will pay off the debt in 10 years.Pray how will we do this with the current gov't in charge. In the last couple of years Mr Swann is on record as stating that our economy is booming yet he still cannot produce a surplus. If he cannot produce a surplus pray how is he going to pay off the debt ?. Sorry Mr Swann you can't have it both ways.
This gov't has no business nous. just look at the insulation scheme. Actually a great idea but completely botched by this incompetent gov't. As a result several decent working men are dead and everything had to be re-checked. Similarly with the schools programme. One school in Adelaide received an $80,000 toilet block despite the same school being slated for closure at the end of the year. This Labor gov't is spending like a drunken sailor with absolutely no thought for the future, only the next election.

Spot on, Shadow Minister.

>>Pericles, You have finally discovered the coalition's dastardly plan to get to surplus, keep spending less than income<<

Ah, but where I come from, we call that "income" by its more honest name: taxation. It's our money they take. Yours and mine.

As I said before, the Coalition's only workable plan to balance the budget is to increase taxation, or reduce expenditure. I doubt we can expect a platform of higher taxation to win the day, so...

Given that there are no more "make-work" schemes to exploit, which expenditure does the Coalition have in mind to target?

I fully expect the usual weasel-response "greater efficiency in the public service".

Go on. You know you can.

And one more thing. Only a politician could believe that governments are responsible for a booming economy...

>>...the Howard government... grew the economy faster than anyone else over a similar period<<

Business grows the economy, Shadow Minister. Governments only get in the way.

Except, of course, in China, where the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China takes a major role in boosting businesses.

Perhaps you have in mind something along those lines for us?