Another 750,000 Australians to Receive Tax Cut Today: Treasurer

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers Delivers his Budget Address at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Oct. 25, 2022. Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said that another 750,000 Australians will see their taxes reduced on July 15 as the revised stage three tax cut continues to take effect.

“Today, the Tax Office tells us about 750,000 Australians will be getting a tax cut,” he told reporters.

“A lot of Australians get paid monthly, and for a big chunk of them, they get paid on the 15th of the month, which is today.

“That’s part of two million Australians who will get their tax cut over the course of the next fortnight.”

Mr. Chalmers said this figure came on top of 8.8 million people who already received a tax cut when the policy was rolled out on July 1.

Under the tax cut, the 19 percent and 32.5 percent tax rates were reduced, and the 37 and 45 percent tax brackets were expanded.

In addition, Mr. Chalmers said the tax cut would help Australians cope with rising living costs.

“This is all about ensuring that Australians can earn more and keep more of what they earn,” he said.

“It’s all about helping people with these cost‑of‑living pressures. A tax cut for every taxpayer, energy bill relief for every Australian household and other ways that we’re helping take some of the sting out of these cost‑of‑living pressures.”

The treasurer also touted the Labor government’s achievement in managing the Australian economy in “the most responsible way” while providing cost of living relief to taxpayers.

Pointing to the two federal budget surpluses after Labor assumed power, Mr. Chalmers emphasised their role in fighting inflation.

“Because of our responsible economic management, we expect the surplus for the year just finished to be in the middle teens of billions,” he said.

“That means something like a $100 billion turnaround in our first year, a $70 billion improvement in our second year, turning those big Liberal deficits into Labor surpluses.

“If it comes in around the middle teens, and we’ll know more in September, that would be the biggest back‑to‑back surpluses on record.”

Mr. Chalmers’s remarks come as the Opposition has criticised the Labor government for its economic policies.

Recently, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor accused Labor of failing Australians, saying their lives were worse off than they were two years ago and that nothing the government did would reverse the damage.

“The Albanese Labor government has no vision for a low inflation, strong growth economy. They have no plan for economic prosperity,” he said.

At the same time, Mr. Taylor said the Labor government had “completely failed” to address the source of Australia’s cost of living crisis, which was inflation.

“Australia’s had five consecutive quarters of negative or flat GDP per person growth,” he said.

“And we are the only G10 country which has seen inflation go up since December. That is an indictment on Labor.”