The Australian Federal Government rarely runs budget surpluses. If we look at the last 100 years, going all the way back to 1926-27, the government has run 20 surpluses and 80 deficits. But over the same time our living standards have boomed and despite what some politicians and commentators might say the government has never looked like going broke.

Australia is not unusual in mainly running deficits. Looking at 33 developed countries, only 5 are running surpluses. All the rest are running deficits. The last time the United Kingdom ran a surplus, Tony Blair was Prime Minister. The last time the United States ran a surplus, Bill Clinton was President.

One country that bucks this trend and consistently runs budget surpluses is Norway. This is because Norway has a sovereign wealth fund worth almost $3 trillion. This is invested overseas, and the fund pays into Norway’s budget.

The money in the fund has come from taxing its oil and gas industry. Imagine that? If only Australia could do the same.

In the meantime, the budget showed that revenue from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax continues to fall. The PRRT is supposed to ensure that the federal government gets a fair share of the gas that all Australians own.

PRRT revenue is smaller than excise on beer, even after the government paused the beer excise.

It is smaller than tax on tobacco, even after the government massively revised down tobacco excise.

The PRRT is even smaller than the money the government collects on visa application charges.

Budgets are about choices. Norway chooses to properly tax its oil and gas industry. We give it away in the form of massive profits to foreign owned companies.