Govt accounts unexpectedly in the black as lumpiness continues

Fri, 17 Jan 2020

The government’s accounts were unexpectedly in the black in the first five months of the fiscal year, as the lumpy tax take remained hard to predict.The operating balance before gains and losses was a surplus of $129 million in the five months ended Nov. 30, smaller than the $264 million surplus of a year earlier, but an improvement on the $554 million deficit forecast in the December half-year economic and fiscal update.The total tax take was up 8.5 percent at $35.7 billion from a year earlier, and was 1 percent higher than forecast. Governmen...

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