Australia’s personal income tax structure has been in a state of flux over many years, and the Albanese government’s backflip over the already legislated stage three tax cuts is best assessed in that context.

Although the government would not put it in these terms, it wants to restore the marginal rate scale to where it was in 2010-11 – at the end of a long stream of tax cuts put in place by the Howard government, starting with the GST compensation cuts in 2000-01.