Following the carbon tax announcement today, here is the sweetener ... some proposed tax cuts next year. The triple increase in the tax free threhold is deceptive as the Low Income Tax Offset (LITO) currently meant that the effective tax free threshold was $16,000 (not $6,000) ... so the increase is really only $2,200. I really hate it when politicians try to do a play like this on numbers and rebates.
With the AWOTE being $1,288 or $66,981 per annum, I am not sure if the tax free threshold increase will really mean much as quite conveniently the marginal tax rates for the first two income levels are increasing.
Sometimes I wonder if it would have been easier to simply increase the company tax rate by a few percent and forget about this hard sell of the carbon tax which will only be in place for 3 years before they change to an Emissions Trading Scheme anyway.
Also, whatever happened to lazy Sundays? Seems like politicians in recent years like doing their big announcements on Sundays ... can we please keep the weekends sacred and save this stuff for during the week?
* Includes the effect of the tax free threshold and the Low Income Tax Offset
** excludes medicare levy 1.5%
Soure: Federal Treasurer's website