Tax the rich, Greens say on budget

The Greens have a simple principle for the federal budget - tax wealthy Australians more.

"To make society more equal, we need more tax, starting at the top," the minor party's treasury spokesman Adam Bandt said on Friday.

It was time to stop treating debt like a four-letter word and run a small deficit for well-funded public schools rather than a small surplus and an undereducated society, he said.