Just days out from a meeting of the nation's leaders, the states don't seem any closer to lending Western Australia a helping hand.
The mining state wants a fairer share of the GST revenue pie than the independent Grants Commission has recommended for 2015/16, citing the impact on royalties of a rout in the iron ore price.
Federal finance minister Mathias Cormann, a WA senator, hopes a deal between the states and territories can be struck when the Council of Australian Governments meets on Friday.
He has suggested freezing WA's GST share for one year at its 2014/15 level of 37.6 cents in the dollar, rather than cutting it to 29.9 cents as the commission has advised.
It's a position backed by Liberal MP Christian Porter, a former WA treasurer.
While that move would boost the state's coffers by about $500 million, WA Treasurer Mike Nahan says it's still not enough.
"Our case is overwhelming ... 30 per cent would threaten the federation," he said on Monday.
He also rejected Canberra's argument that WA has not done enough on economic reform through privatisation and deregulation.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said WA should stop spending like "drunken sailors" before asking other states for more GST.
Mr Andrews said he was prepared to negotiate with WA Premier Colin Barnett, but he wasn't going to ignore the facts.
"It's a bit rich for us to be asked to turn a blind eye to mining boom one, mining boom two and the budget the WA government is basically running," he told reporters.
Exchanges were equally heated when state and territory treasurers met last week.
One issue that doesn't seem to be on the table is raising the 10 per cent GST itself, or broadening its base to take in fresh food, health and education.
But the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll shows a steady rise in support for a GST hike among voters, with more than one in three Australians (37 per cent) now supporting an increase compared with just 12 per cent in late 2012.
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