We're all in it together, but some of us are more in it than others.
"If we all contribute now," he began four consecutive sentences in his speech.
And the revenue projections in the budget show a big part of the repair jobs will be done by lifting revenue.
In this financial year, total revenue will be $363.50 billion, or 23 per cent of gross domestic product.
By 2017/18, which is as far as the forward estimates in the budget go, revenue will have built up to $467.99 billion, or 24.9 per cent of GDP.
But a close look at the projections show the contributions asked for by Mr Hockey fall squarely on households, even aside from cutbacks flagged for family tax benefits, pensions, unemployment benefits, public sector jobs and the like affecting government spending.
Here are some figures.
In 2013/14, company tax, resource rent taxes and the carbon tax are estimated to add up to $76.75 billion, or 4.8 per cent of GDP.
Four years later that tax take will have swollen to $86.6 billion.
But the economy will have swollen too.
Helped by the proposed abolition of the carbon and mining taxes, as well as the tax benefits of the depreciation allowances from the mining investment boom, those taxes on companies will amount to only 4.6 per cent of GDP.
That's less than at present.
At the same time, taxes on individuals, plus fringe benefits tax (which amounts to the same thing), and taxes on the superannuation accounts of workers saving for their retirement, now add up to $174.42 billion, or 11 per cent of GDP.
But by 2017/18, those taxes will be reaping $240.61 billion, amounting to 12.8 per cent of GDP.
If we all contribute now...
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