Economist provides rundown on the budget update and the ‘surprising’ passport increase

The federal government has released the Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook for 2023-2024, and confirmed it’s only an update – not a new budget.

Independent economist, Saul Eslake, says the government is raking in an extra $76 billion in revenue from a variety of places.

“Higher prices for commodities, more people working, and some wage increases, which means they will be paying some more tax as well,” he told Heidi Murphy.

Press PLAY to hear the rundown into the update on the budget + why the government isn’t giving extra money to households

He also says he was surprised to see the government is putting a 15 per cent increase on passport fees from July 1.

“Why we should have the most expensive passports in the world, or close to …  is not immediately obvious, and there was no attempt to justify it other than to say the 15 per cent increase was a modest one,” he said.

Image:  Martin Ollman/Getty Images.