A $1 trillion debt looms. There will be a price to pay for it
Treasurer Jim Chalmers may have delivered a politically clever budget, but he is amassing more on the national credit card without a plan to pay for it.
This pre-election budget pretends to voters they can have it all: tax cuts, near-record government spending and no fiscal consequences.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers may have delivered a politically clever budget because trimming income tax rates for most workers blunts the growing criticism about bracket creep, which the $536 tax cut from 2027-28 will partly address in the short term. Average workers will be protected from bracket creep for two years.
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John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury. Connect with John on Twitter. Email John at jkehoe@afr.com
