A leading economist says he’s not surprised the federal government’s tax-take has almost doubled.

The Reserve Bank puts the increase down to much more than bracket creep, citing a crackdown on deductions by the ATO and an increase in capital gains tax payments.

The December mid-year budget shows the government is expected to collect $17 billion more in taxes this financial year than what was predicted last May.

Chris Richardson from Deloitte told Neil Mitchell the exploding tax take is no “flash in the pan”.

“For several years now, as the budget’s been getting better, the tax system’s been taking a bigger than usual bite,” he said.

“The economy’s not crash hot, but it feels worse than it is because a lot of our money is going to budget repair.”

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