Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will keep his promise and go ahead with tax cuts of up to $9,075 per year for hard working Aussies.
But the vague words Mr Albanese keeps using to re-state his promise has led to accusations he is playing ‘word games’.
On Wednesday, Mr Albanese told an Adelaide radio station that the ‘tax cuts will happen in July. We’re committed to that … we haven’t changed our position’.
And earlier in the week the PM said: ‘The government’s position hasn’t changed … inequality is an issue and the government has looked at ways in which we can improve that position’.
The way the PM has phrased his comments Sunrise host Natalie Barr to ask independent MP Zali Steggall if the Prime Minister is ‘playing word games.
‘He doesn’t seem to be just saying “yes”, something simple,’ she noted.
Natalie Barr has called out Anthony Albanese (pictured) over ‘word games’ as he repeated his promise to introduce tax cuts of up to $9,075 per year for hard working Australians
The tax cuts, which were passed by the previous Coalition government, will create a single tax bracket for workers earning between $45,000 and $200,000 a year.
Mr Albanese said the cuts will still go ahead and come into effect on July 1, but Barr has suggested that the words he used allows him some wiggle room.
Ms Steggall said the Prime Minister is under pressure from Labor MPs on the issue, ‘where there’s probably dissenting views’.
She said there are a diverse range of views about the tax cuts in her well-to-do Sydney northern beaches community too.
‘I did a survey around it and it was a mixed response when it came to keeping them, shelving them or amending them.
‘And so I think (Mr Albanese) is probably having to manage that as well, but as we are now in the rundown to them taking effect, I think it would be very difficult to change them at this time.’
The independent MP said she was in favour of the expected tax cuts, but pointed out that they ‘were legislated back in 2019 under the Morrison government.
‘There were concerns at the time that we were bundling three different stages of tax reform into one well ahead of when they would take effect.’
But the MP for Warringah on Sydney’s northern beaches added: ‘People are counting on them and expecting them, especially with the cost-of-living crisis.
‘So I think it would be foolish and difficult for the Prime Minister to change them.’
She added that ‘it’s a percentage cut. So people on a high income pay more tax and as a result will get a greater cut or reduction as a result of it.’
Ms Steggall acknowledged that some people are concerned the stage three tax cuts could have an inflationary impact on Australia’s economy at a time when inflation has started to fall after a long series of interest rate rises.
‘But I think at the moment with cost-of-living crisis, I think these will be welcome to most households,’ she said.
Workers with a taxable income above $45,000 will benefit from the tax cuts but high income earners are set to receive the highest gains.
While he has faced calls for the tax cuts to be scrapped in favour of other cost of living relief measures, Mr Albanese said the Government would honour its election commitment to keep them in place.
‘The Government’s position hasn’t changed … inequality is an issue and the government has looked at ways in which we can improve that position,’ he told ABC radio on Monday.
Asked about the impact this policy would have on inflation, Mr Albanese said the Reserve Bank had already ‘factored in’ the tax cuts.
‘We think that income tax relief is one way that can assist people, because it does mean extra dollars in people’s pockets,’ he said.
Natalie Barr (pictured) has suggested Anthony Albanese is using words that allow him some wiggle room on the coming tax relief
Mr Albanese said Labor would continue to look at measures to help Aussies doing it tough, in the lead-up to the federal budget.
Housing Minister Julie Collins also said the government was committed to the tax cuts.
‘We went into the election saying that we would keep the stage three tax cuts, and our position hasn’t changed,’ she told reporters in Canberra.
‘What we’re doing is working right across the board about how we provide cost of living relief to Australians that need it most.’
