The Federal Government is preparing to hand down one of the most consequential budgets in living memory, with tax cuts, infrastructure spending and a record deficit expected to be outlined when Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speaks in Parliament this evening.
Key points:
- Fast-tracked tax cuts are set to put billions in the pockets of Australian workers
- Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the Budget will be focused on getting people back into work
- The Government has abandoned plans to return to surplus, with a record deficit expected to be unveiled
As the country grapples with hundreds of thousands of job losses and the harshest economic contraction since the Great Depression, the Budget will spend big in an attempt to give the economy a post-coronavirus boost.
While key supports like JobSeeker and JobKeeper are unlikely to be touched in tonight's announcement, other measures designed to put money in people's pockets are set to be unveiled.
Under a fast-tracked tax plan, tax cuts scheduled for 2022 will be brought forward by two years and backdated to July.
The Federal Government is hopeful it can implement the plan by the end of October, four months after the beginning of the 2020-21 financial year.
The Government hopes that it can deliver a greater boost to workers' pockets by cramming the tax cut into the remaining eight months of the financial year.
The changes are worth $1,080 for people earning between $45,000 and $90,000. The benefits increase from there for people earning $90,000 per year, up to a maximum of $2,565 for people earning more than $120,000.
It will pump an estimated $12 billion into the economy this financial year, with the Government hoping much of that will be spent rather than saved.
But the tax cuts put further pressure on the Budget's bottom line, and the Government has indicated it has abandoned searching for a surplus for years to come.
In July, before strict lockdowns were imposed amid Victoria's coronavirus outbreak, the Government estimated the 2020-21 budget deficit would come in at more than $184 billion.
Since then, the situation in Victoria has forced it to relax JobKeeper eligibility to the tune of billions of dollars, while billions more have been sucked out of the economy due to economic inactivity in the state.
Getting people back into work over coming months and years has been outlined as a key goal of the Budget, and while the official unemployment rate took an unexpected turn last month, falling to 6.8 per cent, the real unemployment rate is higher.
"It's our first, second and third focus, it's all about jobs tomorrow night," Mr Frydenberg said at the Treasury offices in Canberra yesterday.
Part of the push to create jobs has seen a fast-tracking of about $7.5 billion in infrastructure projects across the country, while packages have already been announced for the manufacturing and skills sectors.
A number of measures aimed at helping struggling businesses to avoid being wound up have also been announced.
Labor is also preparing for the landmark budget, with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese having already labelled it "the second-last budget that a Liberal Government should deliver for a long, long time."
"This week we will start to change tack. We will continue to hold the Government to account but we will start to provide the beginnings of our plan for Australia," he said.
"People have wanted us to be constructive during the pandemic. Increasingly we will now provide our alternative."
The economic forecasts in the Budget will be based on the assumption a vaccine for COVID-19 will be successfully developed next year.
The Government has said it is confident it could secure a vaccine as early as January, however some scientists have raised concerns about how a breakthrough for the broader global population could still be years away.
Mathias Cormann said yesterday it was the Government's job to create budgets with the information at hand.
"Budget assumptions are based on the best available advice and information at a particular point in time, clearly there are indications about what expected timetable is going to be and that is appropriately factored in," he said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEwLTA2L2dvdmVybm1lbnQtdG8taGFuZC1kb3duLW1hc3NpdmUtYnVkZ2V0LWRlZmljaXQtdGF4LWN1dHMvMTI3MzMzNTTSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI3MzMzNTQ?oc=5
2020-10-05 17:00:00Z
52781100936655
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Government braces for massive deficit as tax cuts, spending set to be outlined in coronavirus Budget - ABC News"
Post a Comment