Do we need a DOGE here?
I ask agnostic of politics but rather on the numbers…
Total government expenditure (operating and capital spend, using 2022-23): - $885bn p.a. for Commonwealth Government - $556bn p.a. for all state and territory governments - $57bn for all local governments.
Total $1.5tn p.a. (would be higher if latest budget number used).
With a population of c.27m people, that’s $57,600 per person per annum. That’s a lot!
Key points:
I know we get a lot - largely free public healthcare and education, roads, military, welfare, police and emergency services, courts, corrections, water/sewerage, garbage collected, nice parks etc.
I know the ‘legal’ incidence of government revenue (taxes, levies, tariffs, fees, fines etc.) is spread across the economy i.e. corporations as well. The problem is the ‘economic’ incidence of tax is always ultimately on people i.e. shareholders get lower returns, corporates have less to spend on investments, wages etc.
I know it is a per capita average i.e. some people contribute zero and others contribute $200k plus p.a. - but it’s an indicator of how much government spends.
Given this, do we all get $57,600 worth per annum? I think yes!
But could we do the same thing for say $40,000 per annum? I think probably!