Master Tacticians !

The rumour mill is running on overdrive.   Commentators of every stripe are delving deeply into the horrors that are to come in this years Federal budget.  Pages of newsprint and at least half the nightly television news is devoted to analysis of how hard the predicted tax hikes and rule changes will  affect the average persons standard of living.

We are told that the age pension is unsustainable and that in the near future people will need to continue to work until age seventy.   There is concern that the family home may be included in the asset test for gaining whatever level of age pension remains - and doubt that it will still have regular cost of living reviews.

The ultimate horror for most families - death taxes - have again rattled their bones as a trade off for leniency on pension reform, and there has even been talk of reintroducing a license fee for watching television and listening to radio - as a new means of funding the ABC and SBS.

Now the pundits are discussing a proposed " Debt and Deficit levy ".   Of course, this is not termed a " tax " !  For a start, it is only " temporary " and it will be removed the moment the red ink disappears.  Many will have their nose in a dictionary seeking the real meaning of that word " levy " - and it has been suggested it will apply to incomes as low as $ 80,000.

None of this is confirmed.   It is all budget preamble - and it has a lot of people worried.   We certainly do have a financial mess bestowed by the previous government and we do need to take uncomfortable measures to sort it out, but creating hyper-ventilation of our emotions is simply a tactic to disguise reality.  When the budget is finally revealed in all it's glory - we will heave a collective sigh of relief when the worst outcomes we imagined are missing.   

That is one of the oldest tactics in the book.   Create a colossal scare campaign against which the reality of a few unpleasant changes seems quite modest.    The amusing thing, is that Bill Shorten's Labor party has been co-opted to magnify the scare.    It was just too tempting for them to exploit the " broken promises " theme, even though these scares are pure illusion.    Their  " outrage " has actually helped create the illusion of draconian events about to happen.

The wise and the patient will wait for budget night.   There will certainly be some unpleasant news, but it will be far less than the wildest conjecture being put about by master tacticians !