This Budget is still a brutal paper

Sugar hits offered but the Budget reveals political stunts and plenty of harsh measures for the battlers.

ALL SMILES: Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, left, has delivered a budget being lauded by some, but hides plenty of harsh measures. Picture: MICK TSIKAS

OPINION:

WILL the lure of a short-term sugar hit be enough to sway voters to stick with what has been a rabble of a government for another term?

That's the question being posed by the carrot Josh Frydenberg dangled Tuesday night.

Stick with us, we'll give you $1080 in instant tax offsets, more than $2000 for a dual-income family.

Break it down. That's about $20-$40 a week.

Is that actually enough to ease the pressures of a mortgage, make rent, or cover the ever-rising costs of living?

Of course, the relief is targeted smack bang at middle Australia.

The 1.7 million earning between $37,000 and $47,999 will gain $255-$1080.

Those 4.5 million people earning $48,000-$90,000 score the full $1080, while it tapers off from $1080 to $0 for those earning $90,000 to $126,000.

In 2022-23 the 19 per cent tax bracket will be increased from $41,000 to $45,000 and the low income tax offset rises from $645 to $700.

From July 1, 2024, the 32.5 per cent tax rate will be dropped to 30 per cent.

Analysis from political commentators looks grim.

In 2024-25, for the 2.3 million taxpayers, primary earners taking home $37,000, they'll get up to $255 back in income-tax relief.

Those earning $200,000 will get $11,640 back, more than $23,000 for dual-income families.

The foot remains well and truly on the throat of the lower class income earner. This is a budget friendly, as expected, to higher income earners.

Why?

No doubt the poor will be blamed for their circumstances again, as the Government proposes to keep the foot on those battlers struggling to keep their heads above water.

As a society shouldn't we be at least trying to lift those less fortunate up, rather than keeping them penned into a structure where they cannot climb higher, no matter how brightly the aspiration may burn to better oneself?

The aged care measures have also been heavily criticised, with no new money for home care packages.

Labor MP Jim Chalmers took to social media overnight to also highlight that tax as a percentage of the economy was higher this year and every year over the forward estimates than any full year under the previous Labor Government.

Interesting.

Wheelchair-bound Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John has blasted the Budget's surplus forecast for its reliance on tipping $1.6 billion in unspent NDIS funds back into general revenue.

A "systemic failure" rather than an economic success, was how he described it. It's hard to disagree, especially with frequent horror stories of disabled people struggling to access the scheme.

Don't forget the Budget included the re-closure of Christmas Island, after ScoMo's $185 million political stunt. But oh yes, let's celebrate the lack of spend/services, aka, surplus.

Originally published as This Budget is still a brutal paper