But it will also be used to inform Australians about the government's narrative on debt and the need to pay it down.

It comes after a speech from Hockey last month in which he talked about the need to make Commonwealth spending on welfare sustainable. Mr Hockey had promised during the last election campaign that the letter would be one of his first acts as treasurer.

The receipt will be attached to taxpayers' notice of assessment and come from the Australian Tax Office.

The example of the document shown to journalists on Tuesday shows that, for a person paying $5000 in tax, $1839 of that will go towards the welfare system each year.

However, when broken down, it shows that only $141 of that $1839 will go towards the unemployed.