Soaring commodity prices could deliver back-to-back budget surpluses after official budget documents showed a staggering $12.7bn upgrade in company taxes. Formally released by the government on Friday, the final budget outcome figures for 2022-23 reveal a near-$18bn improvement to the budget bottom line, resulting in an underlying cash surplus of $22.1bn, the first since Peter Costello’s final budget in 2007. The result follows a boom in commodity prices and soaring tax receipts from record numbers of people in work which resulted in revenue surging higher than previously forecast. In March 2022, former treasurer ... (full story)