Treasury miscostings at Catallaxy Files

Treasury miscostings

Henry Ergas has a perceptive article in The Australian about

Wayne’s deficit chainsaw massacre

and the blowout in Australia’s fiscal deficit.

Henry points out that the Australian Treasury underestimated the 2011-12 deficit by $35 billion. The same Treasury that claimed during the 2010 election campaign that the Coalition had overestimated the contribution of its savings measures to improving the fiscal position by $7 billion over four years. That’s right, while Treasury waded into a political pond asserting that the Coalition made costing errors of $1.75 billion in a year, it made an error twenty times larger.

Wayne Swan owes the two accountants he attacked in 2010 an apology. The well-funded Treasury is no match for the estimating prowess of the accountants.

Written by Samuel J

September 27th, 2012 at 6:48 am

Posted in Uncategorized

20 Responses to 'Treasury miscostings'

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The Institute of Chartered Accountants also needs to explain why those two accountants were found to have violated institute ethics.

Sinclair Davidson

27 Sep 12 at 6:53 am
Prediction. The Libs will fail to capitalize politically on Swanee’s duplicity and Joe Hockey will continue to look cluelessly apologetic when Leigh Sales depicts him as evasive and unable to explain the affordablity of his party’s policies.

Request. Can the Libs please get their act together and put someone in front of the camera who can perform?

Tapdog

27 Sep 12 at 7:38 am
there is nothing wrong with Mr Abbott, what most people perceive him to be is the victimization of the Nazi style assassination of his character in pictorials as well as public and personal, Mr Abbott will be a great leader and hopefully he will get voted in, I am going to be a australian soon so that I can vote for him.

Jana

27 Sep 12 at 7:54 am
Reckless lies enabled by a partisan Treasury barracking for Labor:

Let’s put that spending in perspective. Swan committed the government to increase outlays by no more than 2 per cent a year in real terms until the budget returned to surplus. Had he stuck to that commitment since 2008-09, spending would be $46bn lower than it is today, wiping out the shortfall.

No surprise then that the deficits this government has accumulated in five years are now barely 1 per cent less, in inflation adjusted terms, than the sum of all deficits incurred in the 37 years from 1970 to 2007. Moreover, that Olympic record was achieved despite an economy that, thanks to the resource boom, was expanding at or even above its trend rate of growth, while the period from the 1970s to the mid-90s was marked by prolonged bouts of stagnation.

Thanks, Henry.

Tom

27 Sep 12 at 8:45 am
But what the opposition can and should do is outline a comprehensive fiscal strategy. And it must set that strategy within the confines of credible fiscal rules and of renewed mechanisms to ensure budget honesty.

Therefore, heads must roll at treasury. These grubs are public servants – we pay their wages and they are accountable to taxpayers. Like the goose, shortarse and wendy pong, they are complicit in this criminal fraud and must suffer the consequences.

Not good enough.

Rabz

27 Sep 12 at 8:54 am
The Institute of Chartered Accountants also needs to explain why those two accountants were found to have violated institute ethics

The big accounting and legal firms make a motza out of big government, there are no greater shills for Labor than those who cream bucket loads of fees from the endless series of committees and reviews.

______________________

Which brings us to a first point. At exactly the same time Treasury was alleging the Coalition’s costings were incorrect, it put out a projection of the 2011-12 deficit that has proved to be inaccurate to the tune of $35bn.

While heaping scorn on the opposition, it managed to simultaneously underestimate the cost of Labor’s election promises and overestimate the revenue available to fund them. Talk about attention deficit disorder.

Liberty quote – GO!

Token

27 Sep 12 at 9:30 am
Everyone from Windsor to Oakeshott to every member of the ALP and the Greens has faith in the ‘independent experts’ in Treasury. They all beat the coalition around the head for not trusting them. All of these pricks need to respond to this. Of course, Oakeshott and Windsor are so independent that they have never seen an initiative from this government they didn’t like. Funny that. All of this ‘independence’ in Canberra is doing my head in. Rabz is right. Heads must roll in Treasury. The first should be David Gruen. I don’t care if he has a zillion PhDs in everything from physics to macrame. He is nothing but a shill.
BTW – how’s the significant and far-reaching tax reform emanating from Swan’s tax forum coming along Oakey? Who would have ever thought that Swan would have used the business tax working group to write his list of panic tax rises on business to supposedly save his surplus (that he will never deliver) while reneging on the company tax cut?

Skuter

27 Sep 12 at 10:16 am
The Institute of Chartered Accountants also needs to explain why those two accountants were found to have violated institute ethics

Yes. They also need to explain why the Government’s accountants in the Department of Finance haven’t been found to violate those same ethics.

Milton von Smith

27 Sep 12 at 12:27 pm
Who do you suggest Tony Abbott would take advice from should he become Prime Minister? It’s the same Treasury from whom all governments take advice.

This is Tea Party style conspiracy theory nonsense. When the figures suit your narrative, you accept them; when they don’t you reject them. Sensible governments accept the advice and respond to changes as and when they occur. This is what Swan has done all along and he’s been praised around the world for it.

The Colonel

27 Sep 12 at 4:12 pm
…the same Treasury from whom all governments take advice

The same Treasury that has just happened to barrack for one side over the last decade or so???

Colonel, let me take a stab in the dark here – you’re really Rob Oakeshott aren’t you? Do you really think that it is Treasury that is driving the agenda? If so, you don’t really understand how our system operates do you?

Skuter

27 Sep 12 at 5:26 pm
Mr Colonel, are you regular KPA or on the commissariat side?

Jannie

27 Sep 12 at 5:29 pm
Hey hey, hey ho, Gruen and Parkinson have got to go!

Skuter

27 Sep 12 at 5:33 pm
This is what Swan has done all along and he’s been praised around the world for it.

Sensible Government?

1st world countries investing mining, agriculture and manufacturing.

~~Milton Freidman~~ ~~Woine Swnanee~~ Dumb C*ut

‘Praised all around the world’, you may want to note that most of the world is fairly poor and ruled by incomeptent kleptocrats.

Fuckhead.

.

27 Sep 12 at 5:42 pm
“The Institute of Chartered Accountants also needs to explain why those two accountants were found to have violated institute ethics.”

The ICAA motto is “Nec Timens, Nec Favens” – Without Fear, Without Favour
Bull-shit …. They got leant on by ALP thugs to carpet their members

Leigh Lowe

27 Sep 12 at 9:23 pm
“The Institute of Chartered Accountants also needs to explain why those two accountants were found to have violated institute ethics.”

The ICAA motto is “Nec Timens, Nec Favens” – Without Fear, Without Favour
Bull-shit …. They got leant on by ALP thugs to carpet their members

Leigh Lowe

27 Sep 12 at 9:23 pm
“The Institute of Chartered Accountants also needs to explain why those two accountants were found to have violated institute ethics.”

The ICAA motto is “Nec Timens, Nec Favens” – Without Fear, Without Favour
Bull-shit …. They got leant on by ALP thugs to carpet their members

Leigh Lowe

27 Sep 12 at 9:23 pm
Treasury has not been apolitical since Wombat Henry was Secretary.

Mike of Marion

27 Sep 12 at 9:30 pm
Henry is on the money again.
I think Abbott and Hockey should get on the front foot when the ABC/Fairfax cheer-squad start bleating about Treasury costings by simply saying they would rather get it done professionally and follow up with the chart showing Treasury estimates heading South-East over time.
Treasury can plead one of two responses ….. (1) incompetence or (2) lack of independence from Swanny and his advisors.
Either way …. not a good look.

Leigh Lowe

27 Sep 12 at 9:33 pm
“Treasury has not been apolitical since Wombat Henry was Secretary.”
Mike of Marion

Correct Mike … but I don’t get why the Coalition doesn’t call them on it by pointing out what is either incompetence or political interference.

Leigh Lowe

27 Sep 12 at 9:45 pm
Jeeze, could someone please develop a decent figure to show this gap? The link points to balance sheets.

laterite

27 Sep 12 at 9:52 pm

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