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Do you have any actual criticism of the budget? It is a little off-topic from discussing the shininess of the charts. I thought it was pretty average and most

Do you have any actual criticism of the budget? It is a little off-topic from discussing the shininess of the charts. I thought it was pretty average and most of the cuts/gains were largely procedural (much like the last few budgets). No really large changes are being made in this budget (you can see it from the chart and reading the actual numbers instead of following the media's interpretations). It is returning Australia to a surplus which may or may not be the right move. All in all it is pretty much what you would get from a team of accountants and consultants.

nl 14y ago
No really large changes are being made in this budget Well.. there aren't any huge structural changes (unless you count the Carbon Tax), but a budget turn-around of >3% biggest reversal in over 50 years[1]. That's quite significant. I think it was a fairly reasonable budget in the circumstances, and I think most commentary reflects that. I think the biggest opposition criticism is for holding back the cut in company tax. I agree with that, but if one takes the view that returning the budget to a surplus is a high priority I think the delay in that was reasonable given the cuts to other sectors. (I am not at all convinced the priority given to returning to surplus is required, so I guess that is also a criticism). [1] http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/BUDGET-2012-Swan-Gillard-tax-pd20120508-U485B?OpenDocument&src=hp3 http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/BUDGET-20...