Hard-pressed taxpayers will welcome any relief, but the modest size of the unexpected personal income tax cut in this week’s federal budget – at most $5 a week from July 2026 and $10 from July 2027 – makes it a sitting duck for ridicule.

In 2003, as a senior minister, Amanda Vanstone coined the term “sandwich and milkshake” to characterise the small tax cut included in that year’s budget, which was $4 to $11 a week for most taxpayers.