Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about a few quick points in relation to last night's budget. The federal budget is a plan for jobs and growth. It is part of our new strong economy for more jobs and growth, and as Australia transitions from the mining investment boom to a stronger, more diversified economy it is vital that our tax system drives economic growth and national prosperity.

Regarding personal income tax relief, middle income Australians are bearing a growing tax burden. To prevent average full-time wage earners from moving into a higher tax bracket, we will increase the middle tax bracket threshold from $80,000 to $87,000 from 1 July this year. At the moment, if someone who is on about $80,000 a year gets bonuses, commissions or overtime, all of that is taxed at 37 per cent rather than 32.5 per cent. The 32.5 per cent rate will now move from $80,000 up to $87,000. A moment ago, the member for Lalor incorrectly stated that high-income individuals would get thousands of dollars in tax relief. Either she has not looked it up, she is lazy or she is not telling the truth, because the fact is it is a $315 tax cut for those people and people on $50,000, $60,000 or $70,000 can get higher wages over time and will not move into the 37 per cent tax rate.

In relation to superannuation, we have also introduced the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do not worry; I am sure the member for Bendigo will get up and carp as well, like you always do. The fact is, this is a good budget for low-income earners. If you really want to talk about low-income earners, look at what you guys are doing to those people like nurses and so forth who want to negatively gear their properties, you are hitting them as well. In relation to the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset, from 1 July 2017, it means that those people will get $500 back into their account. That is a good thing and I am glad we have bipartisan agreement on that. It is a good thing and we need to be encouraging more people to put money into super. It is very important.

Small businesses are the engine room of our economy. Right now businesses that have a turnover of up to $2 million can take advantage of the instant asset tax write-off. With any product up to $20,000 they can get it instantly written-off rather than depreciating it over several years. This will kick in for businesses starting next year with up to $10 million in turnover which will also help supercharge sales in that year as they are able to purchase products for that amount.