Jobs give budget a $3b boost
TREASURER Scott Morrison is expected to reveal an improved budget bottom line when he hands down his midyear review today, gaining a revenue windfall from a buoyant jobs market.
Economists expect the 2017-18 budget deficit could be about $3 billion smaller at some $26 billion for the 2017-18 financial year compared with the $29.4 billion predicted in the May budget.
This would follow the final budget outcome for 2016-17 being more than $4 billion smaller than earlier forecast.
The promise of a surplus by mid-2021 is expected to remain intact. “We’re making very strong headway on that plan, and we’re sticking to that plan,” Mr Morrison says.
It will be another piece of good news for the Government after retaining Bennelong in Saturday’s by-election and restoring its majority in the House of Representatives.
It follows a year dogged by the citizenship fiasco, high energy costs, leadership rows and continued poor showing in the polls.
But Labor expects the report will show the Government is “still just as out of touch” by making huge cuts to universities and their students while pushing for tax cuts for the top end of town and tax hikes for low and middleincome earners through the Medicare levy increase.
“While the Liberals pander to the top end of town at the expense of those who work and struggle, they have no hope of fixing the budget,” shadow treasurer Chris Bowen and Labor finance spokesman Jim Chalmers said yesterday.
Taxpayers will be disappointed if they think Mr Morrison will detail personal income tax cuts as flagged by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Morrison has been clear details will not be announced in the mid-year outlook.