Budget 2019: Workers earning under $40,000 to get serious tax relief with bold Labor plan
Opposition leader Bill Shorten will confirm in his budget reply speech that 2.9 million workers on less than $40,000 a year will pay less tax under his government; the budget’s tax sweeteners could pull swinging voters back; and, how the budget has affected the Central Coast vote. BUDGET FALLOUT
- Federal Budget 2019 sets government up for May election
- Federal Budget: The winners and losers in 2019
Opposition leader Bill Shorten will target millions of low income earners with tax relief, mounting a pre-election assault on the Coalition government to declare Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s tax cuts do not go far enough.
In a pitch for the nation’s battlers, the Opposition Leader has declared Labor is “the party for working mums and families” and will confirm in his budget reply speech on Thursday night that 2.9 million taxpayers earning less than $40,000 a year will pay less tax under his government.
Crucially, 57 per cent of these workers are women — a demographic Mr Morrison and the Coalition desperately want to shore up ahead of the federal election.
Low-earning working mums penalised by budget: Labor
Labor will argue that the government is unfairly taxing low-earning working mums by failing to provide them the same boost to tax relief as higher earners in Tuesday’s federal budget.
“Make no mistake, this is a Liberal Party tax on working mums,” Mr Shorten said.
“Families are already dealing with cuts to child care and no funding certainty for kindergarten under the Liberals, the last thing they need is higher taxes.
“Whether it’s lower taxes, better super or universal preschool, Labor is the party for working mums and working families.”
FEDERAL BUDGET: PRESCHOOL FUNDING BACKLASH
Shorten vows to take Medicare further
As Mr Shorten lays groundwork to fight for a generation of battlers, he also will use Thursday night’s budget reply speech as a launch pad to fight his election campaign on Medicare, the same tactic that almost delivered him the Lodge in 2016.
The centrepiece of the Labor leader’s speech will be a major health announcement.
Labor has already laid the foundations for this with Mr Shorten saying last month: “Medicare was at the top of my plan in the last election and this election will be no different.”
FEDERAL BUDGET: MEDICARE SWEETENER FOR GPS
Labor led its assault on the government’s budget on Wednesday saying the celebrated tax cuts did nothing extra to help families earning under $40,000.
The government promised 10 million workers tax cuts from July 1, but those earning under $40,000 get better rebates on Labor’s proposed plans.
Labor to remedy low income earner tax fail
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen strongly hinted on Wednesday Labor would go even further with tax cuts for this demographic, saying “(the government has) got it wrong for those Australians who are needing to be remedied — and Labor, of course, will have more to say about how we will remedy them”.
This fight over tax has set the scene for a dramatic class war campaign.
FEDERAL BUDGET: TAX RELIEF CALCULATOR
The Labor push to help low income earners comes despite the fact that the party intends to raise the top marginal tax rate to 49 per cent — one of the highest in the world.
But at the other end of the tax scale, a retail worker on $35,000 a year would get a tax cut of $255 under the Liberals, compared to $350 in Labor’s original plan.
A part-time nurse on $40,000 a year would get a tax cut of $480 a year under the Liberals, compared to $508 in Labor’s original plan.
This disparity will grow larger if Labor confirms deeper tax cuts Thursday night.
Lowest earning seats held by Labor
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the three electorates in NSW that are home to the largest numbers of people earning low incomes are all Labor-held.
Blaxland in Western Sydney has the highest number of these low income earners in the state, with ABS census data showing there are approximately 88,000 people, almost 50,000 of whom are women, who could be affected by Labor’s tax cut.
This is followed by the bordering electorate of Watson, held by Labor frontbencher Tony Burke, where 86,398 people could be affected.
Further west, the next neighbouring electorate of Fowler, which is also Labor-held, comes in third place with 85,873 people.
Shock move: Government scrambles to fix low income fail
In a sign of how critical the fight for lower income earners will be in this election campaign, the government scrambled only hours after handing down Tuesday’s budget to change measures so that people on unemployment benefits could be eligible for one off energy supplements.
PM Morrison, Treasurer Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann met on Tuesday night to reverse the ban on Newstart recipients getting the cash.
The move has cost the budget $80 million.
Mr Frydenberg said: “I think it’s very important that we alleviate some of these cost-of-living pressures, and we were focused on putting this additional $80 million to work.”
FEDERAL BUDGET: REACTION AS ELECTION LOOMS
Shaken up: Bill and Josh in awkward handshake
In a bizarre handshake moment captured on morning TV, Mr Shorten displayed breathtaking confidence that he was headed for the Lodge.
Mr Frydenberg extended his hand and said to Mr Shorten “morning, all the best,” to which the Labor leader replied: “Shame about the NDIS, we’ll fix it.”
Spending on the NDIS in Tuesday’s budget falls $3 billion in 2019-20, with a total reduction in forecast spending on the disability scheme now $6.5 billion over two years.
FEDERAL BUDGET: SURPLUS BUILT ON NDIS UNDERSPEND
Cashing up in race for swinging voters
The government’s generous sweeteners — including tax cuts expected to put up to $1080 back in the pockets of singles and up to $2160 for dual income families — could be the crucial pitch pulling swinging voters back to them in marginal seats at the May election.
Millions of Aussie workers will benefit from the scheme, including sisters and business partners Jessica McDonald and Vanessa Foreman, who both said the cuts would help ease the cost of living for both the young mums and could very well be the deciding factor when they hit the polling booths in the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay, currently held by disendorsed Labor MP Emma Husar on a wafer-thin margin.
“I work two days a week … my husband works as well and you also have children, so any extra money in our pockets will help,” said Vanessa, whose children are six and nine.
“The government’s cuts will definitely help us especially with our children because they have different activities to do and every afternoon I am running around, so these cuts will help cover the cost with that.”
BUDGET 2019: $30,000 TAX BREAK FOR 3.4 MILLION BUSINESSES
BUDGET 2019: $453.1M PRESCHOOLS FUNDING FLOP
However, Jessica — her sister and business partner in Lollipop’s Playland and Café in Jamisontown — said the leader with “bigger tax cuts promises” would still be the “biggest decider” when she casts her vote.
“If Bill Shorten does propose a higher tax cut than Scott Morrison then that will definitely be swaying my vote because I am undecided at the moment.”
Vanessa, who also is up in the air on who to vote for, agreed that the level of tax relief would definitely “sway her vote”. “I always change my mind until it gets close to the election and I think more tax cuts will help sway my vote, especially in our tax bracket,” she said.
— Adella Beaini
YOUR SAY: How the budget affected the vote in Labor-held Robertson
1. Central Coast mum Charlotte Bernadette says the proposed tax cuts will impact her vote at the federal election, but if Labor beats the deal for low-income earners she’ll “certainly sit up and listen”.
“Any decision made at that level that’s going to impact people like myself with families who are just trying to work and provide a healthy lifestyle for their kids, of course it’s going to sway me,” she said.
The Wamberal resident hasn’t decided which party to favour at the upcoming poll.
The 39-year-old, who earns approximately $46,000 per year, says access to affordable doctors in her local area is important to raise her kids, aged one and three.
“We don’t have great bulk-billing services where we live so each time we go to the doctor we’re out of pocket $30-$60,” Ms Bernadette said.
2. Narara resident Steve Sullivan says any money back in the taxpayer’s wallet is good policy but in a contest between Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison, he would vote Labor.
“Scomo’s a Sharks supporter,” he said. The 59-year-old data analyst has been loath to talk politics since his high school economics teacher asked what his class thought of the Budget.
“My classmate in front said “it’s rubbish sir” and he got four straps with the cane for that, so unless you’ve got a cane I’m not keen,” he said.
Mr Sullivan said he would back whichever party comes up with reduced taxes for the TAB, as he wants “money in the punter’s pocket”.
3. Unemployed mum Jasmin Sullivan wants the Newstart allowance raised to make life easier for her and her 10-year-old daughter Liliana.
The 45-year-old North Gosford resident said she’d vote for “whoever is addressing people on Centrelink”.
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