The Treasurer, Mr Josh Frydenberg, handed down the Federal Budget for 2022-23 on 29th March 2022. In an election year, the focus of Budget was inevitably on pleasing the electorate, with large amounts spent on lower and middle income earners, pensioners and welfare recipients and a 50% reduction in fuel duty all geared towards capturing the votes of “Middle Australia”. For individuals, the centrepiece was the increase in the low and middle income tax offset, which is welcome. People earning up to $126,000 will get a rebate of $420 in excess of what they would have got anyway through the existing tax offset. All you have to do to get it is lodge a tax return for 2021-22 – so funds should start to flow to taxpayers from 1 July 2022. Unfortunately, this is just a short term measure. Next year, the low and middle income tax offset disappears completely – meaning that people earning up to $126,000 will see a tax rise of up to $1,080. It’s hard to see how that will do anything to help cost of living pressures over the medium and long term. Worse, just as most Australians will experience this tax rise, the wealthiest […]
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