The Treasurer announced on Monday that he was opening a discussion on Australia's future tax system.   So, "Re: think" is a conversation, not about recommendations or definites.

There is a lot of rhetoric, some of it appealing.   Taxes will be 'lower, simpler, fairer and encourages productive endeavour'.

What the paper does is outline the issues and then asks a series of questions, 66 in all, about how best to address the issues identified.

However, the rhetoric rings hollow, with a clear aim of herding taxpayers towards an overall higher tax burden.   No budget has balanced for many years, so what the government has is an expenditure problem.   But the paper is all about reforms to revenue, without fixing the waste.

We have a government and an opposition (they don't deserve capitals) too weak to cut spending, and bureaucrats fearful that technology and mobility make it hard to collect tax.

If the government was serious about tax reform , it would get spending under control.   The Senate is not knocking back the programs but rather knocking back the taxes to be collected to pay for party policies announced years ago (in order to get elected).

So the media seizes on bits like 'lower taxes' and interest groups push their barrows too ('tax them, not us').   All spin and PR.

It's not an unreasonable discussion.   But we first need to stop waste, control expenditure, and evaluate the size of government.   But we shouldn't be fooled by this disingenuous tripe this bunch is trying to pass off as discussion on tax reform.

I'd be happy to point you to where you can obtain a copy of the paper, submissions are due by 1 June 2015, and a green paper by mid 2016 (just in time for the next election).

Pardon my scepticism.