Treasurer Scott Morrison flags tax cuts for Aussie workers

SCOTT Morrison has hinted there could be some good news for Aussie workers in this year’s Budget, with tax cuts earmarked.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has promised tax cuts for Aussie workers before businesses. Picture: Jenny Evans

MIDDLE-INCOME workers will be at the front of the queue ahead of major companies when the Turnbull government cuts taxes, Treasurer Scott Morrison promised today.

“I can assure you of this: People will see personal income tax cuts before big companies will see company tax cuts,” he told Radio National.

Mr Morrison gave no specifics on timing and it could be seven years before proposed reductions for big business, from 30 down to 25 per cent, come into effect.

“They are decisions as we go through the year on the timing of these things,” said the Treasurer.

But his comments today highlighted anticipation the May Budget could offer a concrete timetable to be exploited in a federal election campaign expected between late this year and late 2019.

Mr Morrison said, “What we will be doing is delivering medium income tax relief as soon as we can and we’ve got a Budget this year and I’ll have more to say about that between now and the Budget and beyond.

“But personal tax cuts for middle-income Australians will certainly be realised under a Coalition government long before any big company gets a corporate tax cut.”

The income tax cut tease increases pressure on Labor to present its own detailed policy proposals, while the Government wants Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to simply back its proposals.

Labor is resisting the $65 billion in proposed corporate tax reductions and is challenging the notion that the improved US economy was helped by the tax cuts of President Donald Trump.

Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers has pointed to broader, global factors and said “it would be wrong to say that the Trump tax cuts which were only recently legislated are responsible for some of the uptick in growth around the world”.

Mr Morrison today cited an International Monetary Fund analysis he said identified better global growth he said was “off the back of the United States’ legislated reduction in company tax”.

“That’s why the Government will continue to seek support for our plan to provide tax relief for Australian businesses and the millions of Australians they employ. It will lead to more jobs and higher wages for Australians,” Mr Morrison said in a statement.

“Australians should not have to pay the price of being left behind, because Labor want to hold our economy back.”

The IMF has forecast the global economy will grow by 3.9 per cent in 2018 and 2019, up from the expected 3.7 per cent per year it forecast in October.

And it clearly linked the improvement to the US economic flourish, generated by the Trump $A1.88 trillion tax cuts. But it also warned there would be greater strain on US spending with the revenue reduction.

The IMF expects US growth to rise from 2.3 to 2.7 per cent in 2018, and from 1.9 to 2.5 per cent in 2019.