Why did Joe Hockey move to a ‘real’ budget scare this week?

Treasurer Joe Hockey earlier this week warned that the iron ore price plunge could tear a $25 billion hole in the budget over the next four years. But Hockey also said the Government ‘wasn’t going to chase the fall in revenue’; i.e. the Government wasn’t going to hit Australians with new taxes to plug the revenue gap. What Hockey was saying was simple and blunt: Australia will now face a huge and ongoing budget deficit. Previously the Government said this was possible, but now it is real. This change to a ‘real budget scare’ is an important shift in how the Government is running the taxation debate. (VIEW LINK)