Stage 3 tax cuts: Anthony Albanese’s iron clad promise to keep legislated relief

Anthony Albanese and his government have been ambiguous about tax relief in the upcoming budget, but in a pre-election recording the would-be PM’s words were clear as day.

Anthony Albanese vowed before the election that the so-called stage-three tax cuts were locked in and promised there were no circumstances in which he would seek to scrap the legislated relief.

Mr Albanese’s cast-iron pledges to The Daily Telegraph were made in April during an in-depth interview that focused on his changing views over time.

Having described the cuts as “economically irresponsible” in 2019, The Telegraph quizzed Mr Albanese on whether the reforms would be “absolutely locked in” if Labor came to power.

The then Opposition Leader quickly responded: “Yes.”

To confirm, it was put to Mr Albanese that his answer meant “there are no circumstances under which you would seek to roll back stage three” as Prime Minister.

On the campaign trail, Anthony Albanese made it clear the stage three tax cuts were safe. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Philip Gostelow

He immediately agreed with the proposition.

The stage-three cuts are the last step in a series of reforms begun by the former Coalition government in 2018.

The main aim of stage three is to attack the scourge of bracket creep, which is where workers slip into higher tax brackets as their salaries increase.

Bracket creep sneakily reaps billions of additional dollars in tax revenue each year for Canberra.

To address this, stage three creates a 30 per cent tax bracket on all income from $45,000 to $200,000, when the 45 per cent rate would begin.

Both the 32.5 and 37 per cent rates are eliminated.

Mr Albanese gave another guarantee on stage three in an appearance on Sky News in the week before the May 21 election, declaring that people were “entitled to have that certainty of the tax cuts that have been legislated”.

While Labor voted for the stage-three cuts when in opposition, now that it is in government, a debate has opened up within the party on whether the relief package should be scrapped.

And senior figures within the Albanese administration are doing very little to shut down speculation that the cuts could yet face the chop.

On Thursday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said: “It’s not a big surprise to me that on an issue as big as this, there’ll be a range of views.”

He made this comment despite having told the National Press Club in April that “we don’t intend to reopen stage 3” for debate.