If you earn LESS than $90,000 a year…
The ‘rivers of gold’ predicted last week have translated into tax cuts for low and middle income earners (stock image)
Low and middle income earners are easily the biggest winners of this year’s budget.
Mr Morrison tonight presented a three-step tax plan which will see 10 million Australians receive up to $665 in tax relief during the next financial year.
The tax offset will be accompanied by an increase in the middle tax bracket to $90,000.
Mr Morrison hit back at claims Australians will be ‘disappointed’ in the $10.20 a week payout.
People could use the funds to buy school uniforms and books for the year or pay off their car registration, he argued.
‘Anyone who says $530 tax relief (the amount average workers will get) is ‘no relief’ is out of touch,’ he told reporters at Parliament House on Tuesday afternoon.
If you earn MORE than $90,000 a year…
TAX THRESHOLDS CHANGE: This is how Treasurer Scott Morrison wants Australia’s tax thresholds to look in a decade
Bad luck – you won’t be getting much personal income tax relief, at least, this year.
Workers above $90,000 will still receive a tax offset – but it gradually reduces until tax relief ‘reduces to zero at just over $125,000’, Mr Morrison said.
The government claims it is committed to delivering bigger tax cuts to higher income earners in the future.
But for that to happen the Turnbull government needs to keep getting re-elected.
Mr Morrison announced he will increase the new $90,000 tax relief threshold to $120,000 from July 1, 2022.
The fourth highest tax threshold, currently between $90,000 and $180,000, will be abolished in 2024-25.
Mr Morrison said that will mean millions of people will never find themselves forced into higher brackets, also known as bracket creep.
Small businesses are also set to reap the benefits of a further 12-month extension of the $20,000 instant asset write-off.
Meantime, big companies will see their corporate tax rate progressively reduced to around the OECD median by 2026.
If you are elderly…
Reason to smile: There is plenty on offer for the older generation, including an expansion of the ‘Pensioner Work Bonus’
There are plenty of goodies on offer for the older generation – including an expansion of what has been dubbed the ‘baby boomer bonus’.
Before tonight’s Budget, pensioners could earn more than $6,500 a year before it affected their pension.
The Treasurer announced tonight he will increase that earning cap by a further $1,300 a year. It will also extend to self-employed individuals for the first time.
That will be a relief to older Australians who still work but also receive the age pension.
The government will also fund 20,000 new home care places to help older Australians stay at home for longer.
It will also expand a reverse-mortgage scheme which allows some pensioners to borrow against the value of their home.
If you are a first home buyer…
Sold – but not to a first home buyer. No changes were announced to ease the pressure of high house prices
If you were hoping for good news from the Budget, you will have to wait another year.
No changes were announced to help ease the pressure of high housing prices, with the Government choosing tax relief instead.
If you like paying for things in cash…
It will soon be illegal to make cash payments of over $10,000 to businesses for goods and services (stock image)
In a surprise move, it will soon be illegal to make cash payments of over $10,000 to businesses for goods and services.
From July 1, 2019, payments of $10,000 or more for goods or services will have to be made with a cheque or through an electronic payment system like EFTPOS.
‘This will be bad news for criminal gangs, terrorists and those who are just trying to cheat on their tax,’ Mr Morrison said.
If you drive or catch the train…
This map shows where the government will spend nearly $25billion on roads and rail networks
A whopping $24.5 billion will be poured into building infrastructure around the country which will, eventually, reduce travel time, the government claims.
Daily Mail Australia’s graphic, above, shows the biggest winners in the roads and railways splurge are commuters in Victoria – the recipient of $8 billion.
The most eye-popping promise is a $5 billion investment to build a rail link between Melbourne and Tullamarine Airport, 20km north of the city.
But it’s still many years before construction starts, with Mr Turnbull last month describing 2020 as an ‘ambitious’ target.
Mr Morrison has pledged more than $1 billion to extend Perth’s Metronet network and $2 billion to improve the M1 Motorway, also known as the Pacific Highway which connects Sydney with Brisbane.
Another $1 billion will be used to expand the choked highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and more than $950 million to build a bypass near Coffs Harbour.
If you are a welfare cheat or a criminal on the run…
Unemployed criminals will have their Centrelink benefits cancelled under a new govt plan
Welfare recipients with unpaid court fines or outstanding criminal warrants will be targeted under new hardline measures laid out in the federal budget.
People with outstanding Centrelink debts of more than $10,000 will also be aggressively pursued.
‘We will ensure our targeted safety net helps people when they need it, but that people receive only what they are entitled to, nothing more and nothing less,’ Social Services Minister Dan Tehan said.
‘When welfare recipients have received money they are not entitled to, we will ensure those debts are repaid.’
If you are a university student…
There isn’t much, although regional university campuses will benefit form additional study places, thanks to a $123.6 million investment.
The government will support new bachelor degree places at the Sunshine Coast University, the University of Tasmania and Southern Cross University.
If your power bill is too large…
Good news, maybe.
If it’s approved by state governments – and it is a strong ‘if’ – the National Energy Guarantee will see the average power bill shrink by $400 a year.
If you pay the Medicare Levy…
Mr Morrison announced the scrapping of a previously proposed 0.5 per cent Medicare levy increase (stock image)
You won’t have to pay more tax.
Mr Morrison has scrapped a proposed 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare Levy. He only proposed the hike last year.
Better-than-expected tax receipts mean the hike – introduced only last year – is no longer necessary, he said.
‘The reason we proposed to increase the Medicare levy was only to fully fund the gap left behind by Labor on the (National Disability Insurance Scheme),’ Mr Morrison said.
‘We no longer believe we need to do this.’
If you have children…
The Government has backed the Gonski 2.0 review, and has created a $24.5billion Quality Schools package (stock image)
The government’s childcare package begins on July 2 this year, with increased support to a larger number of families.
Preschools will benefit from $870 million in total funding for the 2018 and 2019 school years.
Some $440million will be used to extend the Universal Access to Early Childhood Education program.
The Government has backed the Gonski 2.0 review, and has created a $24.5billion Quality Schools package.
If you are on the dole…
Nothing has changed, even despite the big business lobby calling for an increase to the dole, which is officially known as Newstart.
Most single people receive about $538.80 a fortnight, or roughly $38.40 a day, as part of the unemployment program.
If you are expecting a baby…
Pregnant women are better off – with the government adding the whooping cough vaccine to the national immunisation program
A free whooping cough vaccine will be offered to all pregnant women from July 1, under new measures announced tonight.
Health Minister Greg Hunt paid tribute to two infants who died from the deadly disease as he announced the $40 million move this week.
‘I know what a devastating impact this disease can have on families and beautiful young children like Dana McCaffery and Riley Hughes,’ he said.
Vaccinating pregnant women is the most effective way to protect newborns from the illness, as newborns cannot be vaccinated until they are six weeks old.
If you are a smoker…
Tobacco will be taxed when it enters Australia rather than when it leaves warehouses and enters the domestic market
A crackdown on the black economy includes changes to how tobacco is taxed, making it harder for those trading in illicit cigarettes.
Tobacco will be taxed when it enters Australia rather than when it leaves warehouses and enters the domestic market, beginning in July 2019.
Beginning on the same date it will be illegal to import tobacco without a permit, and the black market in cigarettes will be tackled by a new multi-agency Tobacco Taskforce.
If you like craft beer…
Scott Morrison has touted ‘the likelihood of cheaper craft beer’
It’s increasingly popular – and now the government will axe a 40 per cent tax on smaller kegs typically used by craft beer brewers.
The aim is to level the playing field between boutique breweries and mass producers.
‘This not only champions the craft brewers that we’ve all grown to love, it raises a very tantalising prospect for Australians: the likelihood of cheaper craft beer,’ Mr Morrison said.
But despite the government’s claims, there’s not much evidence craft brewers will slash prices substantially.
If you’re an environmentalist…
The has announced a half-a-billion dollar plan to save the world’s biggest living thing, the Great Barrier Reef.
The reef has been reeling from bouts of coral bleaching and the threat of climate change. Just this month, scientists recently revealed a 2016 heatwave had resulted in a ‘catastrophic die-off’ of coral.
The Government said the funds will go towards improving water quality and fighting pests.
If you’re famous…
Celebrities will be hit with new rules on their image rights to make sure they’re not dodging their income tax.
Celebrities can currently licence their image rights to a business, which can claim losses on the investment, and then pay just 30 per cent tax on the profits.
But new rules will make sure celebrities and high-profile people who licence their image rights to other companies pay tax on all the income and non-cash benefits they receive.
The money raised from the change is ‘unquantifiable’, the budget said.
– With Australian Associated Press