Hockey plays it cool on chances of any tax cuts Tax cut hangover Treasury has revealed that successive tax cuts under the Howard and Rudd governments may have destabilized the economy in the lead-up to the global financial crisis, causing structural deficit. Further tax cuts would have to wait until the budget was repaired under a future Coalition government, which has also declined to rule out harsh savings such as reducing the childcare rebate. But small businesses could gain from strengthened rules to force prompt payment within 30 days for services provided to federal agencies. Making the traditional budget reply speech to Canberra's National Press Club on Wednesday, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey cited a complete loss of faith in the government's official numbers as justification for not specifying detailed spending and savings plans until the election campaign. Joe Hockey delivers his post Budget address. In their place, he offered a feeling: "I think if there is a change of government on 14 September there will be a surge of confidence. I believe that in my heart. Asked if the childcare rebate was safe under an Abbott government, he said he would not rule things in or out but appeared to signal a further winding back of family assistance. "There are other initiatives, and as we get closer to the election you will hear our position on them, but we've said that we cannot continue to borrow money to hand it to people," he said. However, he pleaded with journalists not to misrepresent the stance on childcare, an issue seen by both sides of politics as a potential vote-changer in middle-Australian households. Asked about future tax cuts, Mr Hockey was even more circumspect. "We're not going to make the reckless sort of promises that the current government has done in that regard," he said. Mr Hockey said the Coalition wanted to help small businesses, which might involve having the ATO open for business outside normal business hours when many small operators do their tax. "For too long the Tax Office has developed an insular and inward-looking culture ... when dealing with taxpayers it has everything in its favour," he said. And when it comes to its legislated powers it all works in favour of the [Tax] Office as well. For example, if a taxpayer is assessed for tax, the only way the amount can be disputed is if the tax is paid in full, with few exceptions. Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon admitted on Wednesday that Labor's continuation of John Howard's generous tax cuts was partly to blame for the "structural problem" in the budget. "Since the Howard years we've been giving the community everything it wants," Mr Fitzgibbon said. So you don't have to be an economist to work out that we have a structural problem and some very big challenges ahead.