Increasing GST is indeed a fanciful fix for strained budgets

Comments on Ross Gittins "Increasing GST a fanciful fix for strained budgets", 22/07/2015

And more than what you have already put very nicely is that why the politicians aren't talking about spending restraint at all. Why don't they review the necessity of the ever increasing share of spending on health, is that really the case that each and every dollar spent on health is that important and there is no waste in all that very big and increasing rapidly spending on health? Why don't they consider making the spending more effective and reducing waste and changing people's demand behaviour so the nation as a whole can use less and do more effectively?

All that suggests that the politicians are very lazy and not accountable to the trust that the electorate provided to them. All they do is to use health spending as an excuse to increase taxes. I would suggest that we should have a measure or mechanism that punishes higher taxing politicians.

Perhaps some international comparison would be helpful, but it seems hardly we hear any such discussions..