The government is hardening its resolve against calls to abolish or amend the stage three tax cuts, believing that to break an election promise would rob it of the goodwill needed to take a more substantial reform agenda to the next election.

Amid fresh debate after Tuesday’s federal budget, Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers refused to rule out touching the tax cuts before they begin on July 1 next year, but noted the budget bottom line was improving even with the tax cuts already baked in.