We have had some lip service about inequality, poverty, sustainability, health and education challenges., but nothing about how to pay for things – including the opposition $21bn defence policy out today.

The default is always cuts or efficiencies rather than more revenue.

Fortunately, there is wide range of opportunities to raise more revenue in Australia, in ways that will also make the Australian community fairer and safer.

Australia is a low-tax country, raising just 30% in tax revenue as a share of the economy, well below the average of 34.9% across developed countries.

If Australia raise just the average amount of tax in the OECD we would raise around $135bn more a year. That would put us in line with Canada and New Zealand and still below the UK, let alone the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.

But here’s the thing – countries that raise more tax and spend more on public services tend to have communities that are healthier, happier and have higher incomes.

Tax is the price we pay to live in a good society. Currently Australia is underpaying and as a result the country has higher levels of poverty, and insufficient funding for education, healthcare and other services.

Today we will be putting forward the ideas contained in our Raising Revenue Right report. It is a blueprint for ways to raise extra revenue that delivers not just the ability to pay for more and better services and infrastructure and benefits, but also will deliver a fairer society and a cleaner economy.

These sums are not unrealistic. The ideas proposed here are not radical. They are already at the centre of policy debate. Some are supported by current members of parliament, while others have been major party policy. They are well-known by policy practitioners and are popular with voters.

And the benefits are immense. An extra $11.8bn per year could fund over 70,000 extra jobs in education and health, delivering significantly better services to the community.

An extra $62.7bn per year could transform Australia for the better, without increasing the deficit by a dollar. Government payments could be increased above poverty line levels while also doubling spending on education, housing and the ABC.