CANBERRA: Malcolm Turnbull’s government is dumping a planned tax hike, giving a clear signal it will use next month’s budget to offer relief to Australians ahead of an election due next year.
Treasurer Scott Morrison on Thursday confirmed he’s shelved a 0.5 percentage point increase to the national health levy which was designed to raise A$8.2 billion ($6.2 billion) over three years.The decision shows Turnbull may use improved economic conditions and boosted revenue to ease taxes in the May 8 budget, instead of returning the books to surplus sooner than its promised goal of 2021. Trailing in polls, the prime minister is seeking to cut levies for big businesses while also giving relief to personal taxpayers.
“Improving global and local economies are raining revenue on the federal budget,” Deloitte Access Economics said in an April 23 report. Still, it warned against the government potentially sacrificing the “long-awaited surge to surplus” through measures such as its flagged personal tax cuts.
