Albo’s tax plan hopes
Stage 3 rejig will need support of Greens or Coalition
Anthony Albanese has declined to say what he’d be willing to offer to secure the passage of his overhauled stage 3 tax cuts as he danced around a grilling on whether he should apologise for breaking an election promise.
Under the reworked scheme, people earning under $150,000 will receive a larger cut than originally promised while those earning more will have their cut slashed.
But lacking the numbers in the upper house, the Prime Minister will need to strike a deal with either the Greens or the Coalition for the changes to pass for them to come into effect on July 1.
Speaking on Sky News, the Prime Minister left the door open to negotiating with both parties as he was asked five times to give an iron-clad guarantee his plan wouldn’t change amid the talks.
“This is our plan. We will put it to the parliament. We’ll put it first to the House of Representatives. We will put it to the Senate … We are determined to argue our case, we have our plan,” Mr Albanese said.
“And you don’t intend to change it?” Mr Clennell probed.
The Prime Minister said he was “hopeful” of getting support from the crossbench.
“We will talk to people across the parliament … We’ll argue our case.”
Labor will require the support of either the Coalition or the Greens and two members of the crossbench to pass the remodelled tax plan.
The changes would reduce the lowest tax bracket from 19 per cent to 16 per cent for earnings under $45,000 and retain the 37 per cent tax rate for those earning between $135,000 and $190,000.
The 45 per cent tax bracket will now kick in for those earning over $190,000, down from the planned $200,000.
The Greens have argued higher income earners shouldn’t get a tax cut at all, which Mr Albanese has rejected, and signalled a fight on rent and the Jobseeker allowance.
Meanwhile, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the Coalition would wait to see the fine print before deciding if they would support it.
“Our position is that the tax relief everyone was promised under stage 3, that tax relief is what people should get,” Ms Ley told Sky News.
Mr Albanese has been unapologetic in his defence of the plan to rework the original stage 3 tax cuts that were first implemented by the Coalition in 2019.
The Prime Minister repeatedly committed to the cuts during the election and in the 18th months after.
On Sunday, he maintained the decision to rework stage three was not considered ahead of the October 2022 or May 2023 budget and that cabinet agreed to the proposal only last Tuesday.
He said it would have been “irresponsible” to not make changes after interest rate rises and cost-of-living pressures slammed lower-andmiddle income Australians.