Federal government policies are more to blame than external factors for the decline in revenue in the past decade or so, a new analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office has found.
Over the period from 2002/03 and up to the 2018/19 forecasts contained in this financial year's budget, revenue estimates were reduced by a net $124 billion.
Policy decisions accounted for $67 billion of this net decline in revenue estimates, the PBO said on Wednesday.
Greens MP Adam Bandt pounced on the figures, saying cutting the carbon price has blown an estimated $12.4 billion hole in government revenue estimates between 2014/15 and 2016/17.
"If the Liberals were serious about economic reform, they'd restore the carbon price," Mr Bandt told AAP.
He said bringing back the carbon price would bring in tens of billions of dollars of much-needed revenue to fund schools, hospitals and services while helping to cut dangerous carbon pollution.
The PBO said external factors, such as weak global growth and falling commodity prices, accounted for the remaining $57 billion in the estimated revenue decline.
In the period prior to the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, revenue estimates were revised upwards reflecting the unanticipated revenue from Australia's commodity price boom.
"Subsequently, the downward revisions to revenue estimates reflected a faster-than-expected decline in Australia's commodity prices," the PBO said.
It also noted $8 billion of measures in the 2015/16 budget - which includes estimates up to 2018/19 - are yet to be passed by parliament.
Share
