Labor scorns ‘election con’ job

Bill Shorten has pledged to boost the size of tax relief for those earning less than $40,000.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in parliament yesterday. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten has pledged to support the first stage of Scott Morrison’s expanded tax cut package for working and middle-class Aus­tralians, but will boost the size of tax relief for those earning less than $40,000.

The government’s expanded $302 billion tax cuts — to be ­delivered over the decade — will not be introduced into parliament this week but will instead be taken to the election as a package.

Labor last night attacked Josh Frydenberg’s first budget, accusing the government of failing to address cost-of-living pressures, tackle stagnant wage growth or deliver improved funding for schools and hospitals.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen and finance spokesman Jim Chalmers last night labelled the budget — and its $158bn of extra tax cuts — as an “election con filled with the same Liberal cuts”.

The opposition also took aim at the government’s promised surpluses, saying they had been subsidised by “short-changing people with disability through a massive underspend in the National ­Disability Insurance Scheme”.

Seeking to match the government, Mr Bowen and Dr Chalmers said Labor would “support the tax cuts that begin on 1 July for working and middle-class people”.

“This is essentially a copy of what we proposed last year, and they are simply catching up to us,” they said in a statement.

The Treasurer last night announced the government would more than double the low- and middle-income tax offset from 2018-19, giving an extra $1080 to single-income families and $2160 to families with dual incomes.

Labor did not last night directly address the second half of the ­Coalition’s tax plan, which would reduce the tax rate from 32.5 per cent to 30 per cent from July 1, 2024, and representing the vast bulk of the tax package.

The effect of this would mean that more than 90 per cent of taxpayers would pay no more than a 30 per cent tax rate, with the top 5 per cent of taxpayers paying one-third of all income tax collected.

Labor also flagged that the government had given a “much smaller tax cut to two million Australians earning less than $40,000”, saying Labor would “fix this and give these working people the tax relief they deserve”.

The Greens labelled the budget a “cynical attempt to buy votes” ­instead of a plan to tackle the ­“climate emergency” through a real investment in renewables and a managed transition away from coal and other fossil fuels.

“Josh Frydenberg said … we owe our children budget discipline,” Greens leader Richard Di Natale said. “We owe our children a plan for their future; that should mean tackling climate change through a managed transition from fossil fuels to a clean, green, jobs-rich renewable economy.”