On the table

If you're going to quibble with the Budget, you need to answer six questions (the headings of the following lists). What follows here is not costed and not really aimed at securing either a surplus or a deficit, and cherry-picks the Henry Review to some extent. There is a lot of vague language here but you get that in other documents of its type, even the ones with lots of graphs and tables. While there is nary a single pie-chart or histogram in what follows, it is far better researched, well-considered and more principled than the Hundred Brain Farts of a more lavishly-resourced outfit I could name. I'm hoping the following results in a net gain to the bottom line and the nation in all sorts of ways:

Here's what I think is important from government:

• Openness and adaptability to change
• Education
• Healthcare
• NDIS
• Productivity
• Research
• Free movement of people who aren't out to attack our society (whether they have an Australian passport or not, and includes putting white bigots under the same scrutiny as, say, brown Muslim jihadis)
  
• A Defence Force that is nimble and packs a punch where diplomacy fails
• Better care for wounded veterans and other victims of post-traumatic stress
• Integrity in tax and justice systems

Here's what I don't think is important:

• Defence/intel bloat
• Handouts to farmers or industry that take the place of prudent risk management

Here's where I'd cut spending (or, why should I go to prison for refusing to fund ...):

• Offshore processing. Too expensive, achieves nothing. Labor gave it a go and it didn't work, and would have solid grounds to attack the Libs for reintroducing it. Sri Lankan and Afghan dissidents are not a threat to Australia.
• Combined funding of ASIO, ASIS, ACC and AFP: budget cut by 15%. Insiders know where the bloat is, they should fix it.
• Defence materiel: cut by 20%, make it happen (e.g. drones for northern surveillance instead of manned aircraft).
• Joint Strike Fighter? Forget it, Sukhoi S-22 is the machine everyone's afraid of so let's get that instead. The US will forgive us eventually.
• Donations to the car industry; gone (or, introduce this).
• Donations to aluminium and steel smelting phased out over five years.
• Reduce private health rebate to 0 over five years, don't privatise Medibank Private until then.
• Halve diesel rebate, abolish other fiscal incentives on fuel usage (e.g. current FBT system requiring cars to burn given amount of fuel by 30 June).
• Naval vessels built in Australia are not to be as labour-intensive as current plans require: increase in plan/build phase but reduced operating costs.
• The way to cut middle-class welfare is not to yank it away but to remove any social cachet it might have. Family Tax Benefits, housing and other forms of assistance should be paid only to those on below-average incomes.
• Public funding of political parties: gone.
• First Home Owners' Grant: gone.
• Tourism operators spend more money lobbying than upgrading their own facilities, so give them time-limited incentives to upgrade and reduce unproductive junkets and cash hits from government.
• When meteorologists travel the country to advise farmers of sustained extreme weather events, those who ignore forecasts should not have recourse to public subsidies.
• Cut parliamentary debates so that speeches can be tabled rather than having members read speeches for the sake of pantomime, leaving time for members to speak when required.
• Members not granted an overseas study trip each year, except if research forms part of committee, bureaucratic or academic research work; any research findings that can be found by Google-type search should oblige members to reimburse the Commonwealth for their junket.

Here's where I'd raise/introduce new spending:

• Graduates of foreign universities who are native speakers of key languages (e.g. Indonesian, Spanish, Arabic), and who have been educated at tertiary level in those languages, to be eligible for three-year scheme: half the time to learn how to be a primary or secondary school teacher (including English training as required), the other half the time teaching. Offer reciprocal schemes for Australians wishing to live/teach overseas. No, this is not the "Colombo Plan" the Coalition have sketched out, it's far more substantial than that. 
• Newstart increase by 25%.
• Increased incentives for occasional childcare.
• Maintain level of support for arts funding, but introduce training for gallery/theatre staff in theory and to engage in debates, subsidise transport to art galleries and theatres, increased emphasis on arts as tourism drawcard.
• Infrastructure bonds for transport and communications infrastructure, capped to minimise risk to government.
• Relocating Immigration/UNHCR assessors throughout Asian countries, not necessarily limited to capitals if host countries agree.
• Customs to take over baggage handling at airports, and to conduct preliminary screening on board aircraft at point of take-off before entering Australia, to expedite passenger and baggage throughput at Australian ports.
• Increase funding for Gov2.0, small-scale IT services for government services, including health and disability support; foster Canberra as innovation hub for information management and IT (including apps development).
• Include Tasmania in the regional tax allowance system and reduce taxes to companies that base themselves in and operate from there, for the sake of employment and innovation.

I would bring State/Territory and local government Departments of Health, Disability and Ageing into the Federal Government, with:

• 50% increase in mental health funding over five years.
• Dental coverage within Medicare.
• National cancer screening scheme.
• National centre for post-traumatic stress disorder, including veterans and their families - and, yes, refugees - with a view to global leadership in this area.
• No decrease to GST takings for any state that agreed to cede health powers.

Here's where I'd raise taxes/cut rebates:

• Super-profits tax on organisations that dominate their industry, e.g. banks, retail conglomerates, and yes the media.
• Tax RSL Clubs to fund care for veterans, because the dills who run those bloated outfits have lost sight of what their mission is and palmed it off to the government.
• Non-profit organisations paying compensation to victims of institutional abuse to be levied with a financial penalty as a way of improving internal systems.
• FBT on vehicles in line with Henry Review, except reduced to 0 in three years not five.
• GST exemptions removed, including on food.
• HECS-style scheme on AIS set at a rate that would cover 50% of its operating costs in the first year.
• Increase penalties for ACCC, APRA, ATO, FWA and environmental protection, including bounties for investigations.
• Remove rebates for mining exploration, combine with general tax breaks for start-ups. Rebates on mining taxes for quality of environmental and cultural management.
• Tobin tax. Worth a shot.
• Halve negative gearing on residential property (except where housing supply lags population growth, e.g. Sydney, Albury-Wodonga, SW WA), cap it to 7 years.
• Donations on fertiliser: cut by 20% a year over five years. Ban fertilisers derived from fossil fuels and subsidise replacements from urban sewage.
• No offsetting farm losses against other income. Hobby farms should be just that, not tax havens.
• No duty-free tobacco products, increased duty on tobacco products made outside Australia.
• Increase tax breaks for health research and tie it to foreign aid: Australians as healers.
• Increase tax breaks for art and education of non-relatives (to encourage charitable giving to education).
• Capital Gains Tax on inheritances from estates in the top quintile.

Here's where I'd cut taxes:

• Until I read Recommendation 9 c) in the Henry Tax Review, I had no idea that Fringe Benefits Tax was levied on toilets, office furniture, and stationery. Those facilities should be excluded.
• Raising tax-free threshold on income tax.
• Incentive schemes on gifts above a certain amount (say $1m) which is congruent with government policy goals.
• Reduce corporate tax in line with payroll. If you're serious about creating jobs (govt) and complaining that labour costs are unbearable (some of the lazier employer advocates) this is where you'd offer tax relief.
• Tax deferments on start-up businesses, including artistic endeavours and mining exploration.

Yep, that's pretty much it. No evidence of vast wealth to be unleashed with more significant tax cuts than that.