15.04.2013 - Australian governments have blown mining boom cash, say economists
Australians could be sitting on a $300 billion sovereign wealth fund to rival the oil-rich nation of Kuwait if we had banked the budget windfall of the now deflating mining boom. Instead, exclusive modelling for News Limited reveals successive federal governments have squandered the lot - and then some - in tax cuts, handouts and stimulus spending. Most economists are tipping Labor's fifth budget will reveal a budget still deep in deficit - by as much as $10 billion in 2013-14 - as revenues continue to disappoint. This is despite the mining boom delivering a $290 billion boost to the budget bottom line between 2003/4 to 2016/17, according to modelling by Canberra-based forecasting group Macroeconomics...............................................Full Article: Source
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