Each year’s Budget sets out a plan and it also
reports estimated outcomes for last year’s plan.
One of the most revealing statements in the Budget
Papers is the Summary Policy and Parameter (P&P) Statement. Each year this
statement reveals why things are different from the predictions in the previous
Budget.
Parameter changes occur due to circumstances beyond
the direct control of the State Government, for instance a fall in GST revenue
or a rise in wages both cause parameter changes. The change in the timing of
outlays and receipts also results in parameter changes.
On the other hand policy changes occur as a result
of Government decisions, for instance, granting land tax exemptions to owners
of certain properties will cause land tax revenues to fall and paying for
election promises will cause an increase in outlays.
A Budget typically will contain estimates of
receipts and outlays for the ensuing year plus a further 3 years of forward
estimates, a total of 4 years. The following year the P&P Statement will
detail the parameter variations for the 4 years in the previous year’s budget.
The policy changes will cover the same period plus an additional year of
forward estimates, a total of 5 years.
The period leading up to the 2009/10 Budget handed
down in June 2009 was a tumultuous time. The GFC was in full swing following
the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Bewilderment was exacerbated by our
economically illiterate politicians jostling to appear relevant. All we learnt
from them was there was a black hole of indeterminate size caused by a
reduction in revenues. Thanks for the piercing analysis guys.
State Government revenue comprises, roughly, 60%
from the Feds (general purpose GST revenue plus other tied specific purposes
grants), 20% from State taxation, 10% from sale of goods and services and 10%
other including GBE payments, fines, interest.
The P&P Statement in the 2009/10 Budget
revealed total parameter changes of $2,118 million. That is the total of
changes over the 4 year period of revenues less running expenses and capital
outlays, due to changed circumstances (NB excluding policy changes). Almost all
the changes can be explained by reductions in untied revenue—-State taxes down
$550 million, dividends and returns from GBEs down $112 million, GST revenue
down $1,028 million and interest down $271 million.
Policy changes of $812 million managed to reduce
the effect on the Budget bottom line over the period of the forward estimates.
Even so total cash was projected to fall as low as $292 million in 2012. The
original 2008 Budget projected cash to grow to $1,914 million by 2012.
By the time of the Mid Year Financials in December
2009 things were looking slightly rosier with projected cash of $414 million by
2012.
But not that rosy. Not rosy enough to allow a
renewed spending assault on the public purse.
However an election beckoned. All political
parties, without exception, engaged in a frantic, at times obscene auction for
our votes seemingly oblivious to the perilous state of the State’s finances.
The Charter of Budget Responsibility was more honoured in the breach than the
observance. All parties deferred instead to Michael Polley’s Guide to Parish
Pump Politics.
It was always going to be a close contest. None of
the parties had a mortgage on competency. Spending more was the chosen way to
elicit votes. But spending more will only worsen the State’s predicament which
then gives rise to further questions about competency.
What’s the answer?
More spending was the answer. Economists sometimes
refer to this pattern as a negative feedback loop.
The end result is often a form of disaster, which
we are now witnessing.
It shouldn’t be the preferred path for a service
delivery entity like the State Government.
That’s what happened during the election campaign.
Often election promises are lost in the sands of time.
Preparing the 2010/11 Budget it emerged that the effects of the GFC were less
pronounced than expected and the Feds responses meant we escaped a near death
experience in much better shape than anticipated.
The P&P Statement in the 2010/11 Budget revealed
that the parameter variations were in our favour by $1,122 million. That is, we
were better off over the 4 year Budget period by $1,122 million, simply on the
basis of the changed circumstances, not taking into account any policy changes
of Government. The predicted falls in State taxes and GST revenue were only
about 40% of previously predicted and receipts from GBEs regained all of their
lost ground (which may say something about GBEs as a stable revenue source).
We were given a get-out-of-gaol-free card.
We were released on parole.
What did we do?
Were we chastened and/or rehabilitated by our near
death experience? And change our ways as a consequence?
No way.
The policy changes in the 2010/11 Budget amounted
to $1,420 million over the 5 year period. These were deliberate conscious
decisions by Government to spend most of the available cash.
What about a rainy day provision?
Not required.
Revenue was reduced as land tax exemptions were
granted to interest groups.
Policy induced expenses and capital outlays meant
that the parameter windfall of $1,122 million was swamped by the policy
decisions of $1,420 million.
At a time when we should have been consolidating we
were spending. Mr Bartlett, Ms Giddings, all of them.
Not that it would have made any difference had the
post election farce ended with a different Government. Neither Will nor Nick
proposed a radically different Budget scenario. Less tax if anything, land tax
and/or pokie tax reductions were proposed. Less outlays? None were enunciated.
Only the Greens suggested the possibility of more borrowings? Both the Libs and
Greens’ policies would have caused as many problems as those of the incumbent
incompetents.
We are now told that GST receipts will fall
further. In the 2008/09 Budget the Government (sneakily) unilaterally reduced
expected GST receipts as advised by the Feds, by $50 million for one particular
year only. Under questioning at Estimates Hearings it appeared that this was
done to pre-empt a possible change in the Grants Commission formula for
determining the State’s share of GST revenue.
But if the formula were to change then subsequent
years would also have been affected so the explanation seemed a tad
unconvincing.
More likely they were trying to paint a bleak
picture that would suddenly improve in the Mid Year update just prior to the
election.
It will be interesting to see if the State’s
estimates of current GST reductions correspond to those provided by the Feds.
And also interesting to learn why GST receipts are expected to reduce in the
future. It’s not immediately evident why GST is being revised downwards. With
the mining boom GDP is supposed to be still growing but GNExpenditure which
excludes export and includes imports and is a more reliable predictor of GST
receipts (expenditure as distinct from production) must be slowing.
Is this a portend?
Most economists and accountants understand Swahili
better than some Government accounting practices. It required a moment of
epiphany for me to realise, after struggling with a few Budget papers, that
just because an amount has been appropriated by Parliament it doesn’t mean that
a cash sum has been set aside for the intended purpose. Appropriation in this
instance is merely obtaining Parliament’s approval to spend amounts from the Consolidated
Fund, which is where all recepts are deposited. (Reserved by Law items can be
taken from the Consolidated Fund without appropriation).
And it is probably fair to say that most people are
not aware of the simple fact that appropriations are not cash transfers.
Most people assume that if provision has been made
in a Budget then cash has been earmarked.
Not so.
Obtaining appropriation is only Stage 1. Finding
the cash is the more difficult Stage 2. As many will discover in the next few
months.
Lots of amounts have been appropriated in recent
years that, as at June 2010 are yet to be spent—the Housing Fund with $47
million, Infrastructure Fund ($85 million), Water Infrastructure Fund ($48
million), Urban Renewal and Heritage ($11 million), Hospital Capital ($70
million), Economic and Social Infrastructure($29 million) and the Risk
Management Fund ($169 million).
But the daddy of them all is the Superannuation
Provision Account SPA with a balance of $1,364 million, comprised of some
Reserved by Law amounts but mostly appropriated either via departments and
agencies as contributions towards the Government’s share of superannuation for
certain defined benefit members or as an interest component equal to what would
have been earned by SPA were it a cash account.
That’s right, interest is appropriated to the SPA
account, it is not earned per se because a separate cash amount has not been
set aside.
Lots of money appropriated into the various Trust
and Special Deposit Accounts, not to mention the department and agencies’
working accounts, add up in total to $2,376 million at 30th June 2010.
But there’s only cash on hand of $938 million. The
difference of $1,438 million has been ‘borrowed’ and spent elsewhere, $282
million in the last year.
And this will get worse as the previous Treasurer
told Ruth Forrest MLC in a belated answer to a question on 16th November 2010.
The internal borrowings will increase by a further $399 million over the next 4
years to reach $1,837 million by 2014. At that stage there is supposed to be
$2,443 million in the Trust and Special Deposit Accounts plus the department
and agency working accounts, the largest amount being $1,771 million in SPA.
However it is estimated there will only be $606 million in available cash. The
Mid Year update due in February 2011 may bring even worse news.
What chance is there that amounts can be repaid
into the SPA and other Trust accounts?
Virtually none.
Not in the next 4 years anyway.
The only repayment made in the last few years was
$47 million in 2008 but that was the year where the cash surplus exceeded $500
million following the Hobart Airport sale.
Currently the Government has to find about $170
million pa as its share of unfunded pensions and benefits. This figure will
peak in around 2030 at least $400 million pa. In the interim it will increase
at about 4% to 5%, faster than revenues. While notionally any such payments are
credited to SPA, the reality is the cash has to be found out of revenue each
year. Not only that, if is still planned to fully fund the unfunded super
liability by 2035 a fresh start will have to be made pretty soon. The amounts
set aside over the last 10 years have all been spent so they’ll have to start
afresh. It will be a Herculean task to set aside $5 billion by 2035 as well as
paying for the ongoing pension and benefit costs of retired RBF members.
Treasury have recently issued a position paper
titled Review of Tasmania’s Financial Management Framework which contains
commentary on the existing structure of the Government’s financial framework.
It is more than likely that the current dual fund system of a Consolidated Fund
and variously named Trust and Special Deposit Funds will become a single fund
model. Separate trust funds will only exist for genuine trust monies and
provisions will ensure that money held in trust is protected. The SPA may just
disappear. It’s only a book entry anyway. Also many of the trust funds which
the paper states “provide opportunities for activities and expenditure to be
effectively removed from the scrutiny of Parliament.” Mr Bartlett’s Water Fund
is a case in point.
The Government won’t have to worry about repaying
amounts borrowed from the various trust funds. It will be an impossible task
anyway, thanks to the wanton recklessness of Mr Bartlett and his colleagues.
Stakeholders have been urged to respond to the
paper’s recommendations. So far the public responses have been non-existent. Mr
Hodgman? Mr Gutwein? Mr Morris? These are serious proposals on the table that
warrant some reaction.
It may be that Ms Giddings will adopt some or all
of the recommendations and appear proactive in getting on with the job and
distancing herself from Mr Bartlett.
Regardless of any changes to the State’s financial
management system, the 2010 election and the subsequent Budget have left the
State in a precarious position. Little wonder both Mr Aird and Mr Bartlett were
keen to find the exit.
All that talk about “ a line in the
sand…...standing on the shoulders of giants….clever kind and connected…. we
will see dry plains of slowly degrading soils turn into acre after acre of
Australia’s most innovative and productive farm lands”. Never has so much
meretricious nonsense passed the lips of just one person in such a short space
of time.
Mr Bartlett’s rhetoric diverted attention from
unpalatable realities.
Even so it’s a bit rich to hear that Ms Giddings
“is said to have been horrified at the fiscal forecasts for the state”. She’s
been one step behind Mr Bartlett all the way as he’s manoeuvred the State
towards the edge of a precipice. What was she doing? What about her coterie of
advisors? Publicly available Budget papers and the Treasurer’s Annual Financial
Statements have been telling the same story for a while.
Ruth Forrest MLC is the only MP to articulate
concerns about the State’s predicament. The Government hasn’t responded. The
Greens as yet don’t appear to have a position even though two of them must be
acutely aware of the problems as they sat at the Cabinet table during Budget
deliberations.
And as for the Libs they appear to have adopted the
position that if they can squeeze the words ‘Labor Green Government’ and
‘instability’ into the same sentence at least twice a day between now and the
next election they might triumph at the polls, so why bother releasing any
policy prescriptions? If indeed they exist?
All the carping, whingeing and petty political
point scoring comes at a time when we need a frank public discussion about the
many lessons to be learnt from the GFC and the ramification for future policy
formulation in this State.
Back to basics Ms Giddings?
It’s got to be a little more than that.
As Queenslanders and Victorians work to repair
their States we Tasmanians also have a daunting task.
To tidy the mess left by Mr Bartlett.
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