Axe government funding to private schools (save $8.3 billion a year) and private hospitals (save $5 billion a year).

Abolish negative gearing.

Offer a government-funded “job guarantee” so everyone who wants to work has a job (cost $22 billion a year).

Add the GST to fresh food (earn $7 billion a year).

Introduce a banking super-profits tax (earn $500 million a year).

Increase the top marginal rate of tax to 50% and apply it to income over $150,000 (would raise close to 1% of GDP a year).

Spend an additional $40-65 billion a year on human services, health, education.

Who says economics is the dismal science? Tuesday’s federal budget looks like being a timid affair, so Crikey thought we’d look elsewhere for good ideas. This week we’ve run five fantasy budgets as we anointed some of the country’s best economics and public policy brains treasurer for a day. We asked them to cost out their proposals and balance their books. They certainly have not held back.

The proposals listed above can be found in the fantasy budgets by Crikey’s Bernard Keane, and economists Bill Mitchell, Richard Denniss and John Quiggin. Today it’s education expert Andrew Norton’s turn — and he’s redirecting government dollars from public to private universities.

You may not agree with losing your private health insurance rebate and paying a new tax on superannuation drawdowns, but these budgets show there is certainly room to move on public spending. There are cuts that can be made, new taxes that can be levied, and there are programs that need much more money.

You won’t see much of this in Tuesday’s budget. The political pygmies of contemporary politics may be too scared of the opinion polls to reshape public finances in any significant way — but that shouldn’t stop us doing their work for them.