Budget review 2015–16

The Budget is the government’s central economic and fiscal statement each year. This paper reviews key aspects of the Budget. Introduction The 2015–16 Budget was introduced into Parliament on 12 May 2015. It is the second Budget of the Coalition Government. This overview provides a summary of the headline numbers, the economic context, the Government’s fiscal strategy and broad policy agenda, and how the fiscal outlook has changed since the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) 2014–15. The Budget is the government’s key economic and fiscal statement each year. However, the policy process underpinning the Budget is ongoing throughout the year and major policy announcements can be made at any time. The major influences on the content of the Budget include past revenue and expenditure decisions, changing economic conditions, and the government’s fiscal strategy and broader policy agenda. When assessing the Budget some useful questions to keep in mind include: what problems is the Budget trying to address and what does it actually deliver? will the decisions in the Budget improve the wellbeing of current and future generations? does the Budget support growth and higher future living standards? what are the distributional effects of the Budget? what are the merits or otherwise of the individual spending and revenue decisions? what trade-offs have been made? what has been left to another day