Mathias Cormann 'not ruling out' increasing taxes to fund national security boost, Iraq campaign

Updated

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says he will not rule out raising taxes to help pay for Australia's mission in Iraq and a recent funding boost to national security agencies.

Since handing down its budget in May, the Government has given national security agencies an extra $630 million over four years.

The Government has also estimated that the military deployment to the Middle East will cost about $500 million per year.

The Government's failure to win Senate support for billions of dollars in budget measures has it looking for new savings.

Senator Cormann told Sky News he is looking "right across the board" for possible savings and would not rule out increased taxes or further cuts to the foreign aid budget.

I'm not going to rule anything in or out, our commitment is to get Government spending back under control. Mathias Cormann

"I'm not going to rule anything in or out. Our commitment is to get government spending back under control, to get back onto our trajectory as a result of our decisions to reduce spending," he said.

"We are looking right across the board for ways and means to deal with additional expenditure and any impact on savings of the slower passage of measures."

But the Federal Opposition said the Government needs to get its act together on economic policy.

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh said the Government should take its whole budget back to the drawing board.

"Now we've seen ... Mathias Cormann saying there are further cuts to come, cuts across the board, and not ruling out further new taxes," he said.

"This Government needs to get its act together on economic policy because it's vital that we begin to put in place the investments that'll underpin future prosperity."

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey said last week the Government had "no choice" but to look for new savings.

He said investment in the Middle East military campaign was "money well spent" but meant finding new sources of funding.

The Treasurer said cuts will be revealed in December in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) budget update.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop made it clear to her senior colleagues she will fight any attempt to cut the foreign aid budget.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, budget, unrest-conflict-and-war, hockey-joe, australia, iraq

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