Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has vowed to index income tax brackets to inflation if he wins the next election, using his budget reply speech to roll out a $22.5 billion pitch to workers. Source: The Australian.
With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese coming under pressure over his budget with broken promises and higher taxes on investments, Mr Taylor unveiled a plan for “generational tax reform” that would deliver $1000 a year to an average worker after four years of being implemented.
He also signalled a plan to fight a surging One Nation by promising to deliver one of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history, vowing to crack down on welfare for non-citizens while declaring “mass migration is changing Australia for the worse”.
Mr Taylor said his vision for a “fairer, freer, and better Australia” would see a single-income earner on an average wage be able to own a home, “an Australia where a mum or a dad can afford to take time off work to do the most worthwhile thing in life – raise a child”.
Under a two-stage plan to reform the income tax system, a Coalition government would peg the bottom two tax thresholds to inflation from 2028-29 with workers to receive an initial yearly benefit of $250.
The top two thresholds for workers earning more than $135,000 would be indexed from 2031-32, with the policy to cost $22.5 billion over the first four years while becoming more expensive over time
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday ruled out pursuing indexation as a way to tackle bracket creep, with Labor likely to accuse the Coalition of planning massive cuts to services to pay for the policy.
Labor is instead pursuing a flat $250 end-of-year tax rebate for all workers, with the Treasurer flagging the potential to turbocharge this payment to provide further relief in the future.
Calling Labor’s plan to raise taxes on housing investments, shares and trusts as an “assault on aspiration”, Mr Taylor said his income tax policy would “back Australians to work hard, take risks, and invest in their future”.
Nationals leader Matt Canavan and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson delivered their own budget reply speeches in the Senate.
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Tax cut every year in Angus Taylor’s $22 billion budget gamble (By Greg Brown and Geoff Chambers, The Australian)
