Treasurer Daniel Mookhey to hand down Labors budget [Video]

The $11.9 billion GST “rip-off” repeatedly cited by Mookhey is disputed because it is based largely on forecasts rather than “real” money. Mookhey’s problem here must be frustrating because putting together a state budget requires four-year projections for revenue. However, the Commonwealth only offers projections on GST distributions on a 12-monthly basis. The state has to forecast something, so has used the hopeful but probably fallacious assumption that the Commonwealth Grants Commission would split GST money in a favourable way to NSW.

NSW has therefore calculated what it was expecting to get versus what it is …