Dollar Sweetie stonewalled spectacularly yesterday when confronted by the meeja about his plans for the future. Not even his old pal Jeff could have done better:

JOURNALIST: Just on leadership, the transition deadline that your supporters have set for that changeover, does that still stand for March/April of next year?

TREASURER: I have said all that I am going to say on that issue. I won’t be adding to it.

JOURNALIST: But in terms of the deadline though, is that still the expectation that your supporters have?

TREASURER: Well you keep throwing assumptions in your questions, and as I say, I am not going to be baited by them.

JOURNALIST: If they are assumptions though where does the matter stand then? I am happy to be corrected on that.

TREASURER: No, I am not in the business of correcting questions. I am in the business of giving answers.

JOURNALIST: Are you reassessing your intention to challenge for the leadership in the new year?

TREASURER: Same answer.

JOURNALIST: Have you told the Prime Minister that this deadline does still stand?

TREASURER: Same answer.

JOURNALIST: Which is…

TREASURER: You’re from the ABC.

JOURNALIST: That’s right. Will you be disappointed if Mr Howard looks to stay on longer than next year?

TREASURER: Have we got any serious questions?

JOURNALIST: Look, I will change the subject completely. How concerned are you about the possible slow-down in the US…

Yup, the Costello vision thing is on display again. But the Treasurer might be running out of time to get his thinking cap on. The November issue of the Australian Institute of Company Director’s magazine Director features a bloke named Turnbull on the cover, under the heading ‘The Tax Reform Man Cometh.’

And The Australian‘s economics correspondent, David Uren, provides plenty of thought for the rest of us with his ‘Fat surplus could pay for tax cuts’ yarn today.

“Treasury officials are predicting a near-record budget surplus of more than $14 billion next year, giving Peter Costello the chance to deliver big tax cuts,” he says.

The Treasurer is about to announce an upgraded budget forecast on the back of strong company tax revenue and lower government spending. The improvement, expected to register in the mid-year update of the budget, will show government finances in a much stronger position than at the time of the May budget, when an $8.9 billion surplus was forecast for 2005-06.

The update is already overdue. The Charter of Budget Honesty stipulates it should be delivered within six months of the annual budget, but last year Mr Costello left it until Christmas Eve.

The revised surplus would provide enough money to pay for the ambitious tax cuts proposed by Liberal backbencher Malcolm Turnbull, taking the top marginal rate down from 47% to 40% and lifting the tax-free threshold for all taxpayers from $6000 to $10,000. In the first three months of the financial year, government revenues have been running 7.9% ahead of last year. The May budget was based on an assumption that revenue would increase by 5.9%.

C’mon, Cossie! Hands off. Get hands on.