Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer and Acting Prime Minister. Can the Treasurer confirm that under his budget the tax cuts for 900,000 women earning under $21,600 will not be paid until they submit their tax returns, after July 2007? Treasurer, why should these women, many of whom are mums returning to work, have to wait a year for any tax relief to help with out-of-pocket child-care costs?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In this budget we increased the low-income tax offset to $600. The low-income tax offset is applied by the Taxation Office automatically. It is automatically done once you put in your return, so you do not have to calculate it. The employer, who does not have the knowledge of what your taxable income will be through the year and cannot calculate it, does not have to calculate it. For most Australians, it is a very welcome return when they put in their tax return. This is the system which has been operating for many years. It has been made more generous. There has been no change. It is not exclusive to women. It applies to men, to women, to anybody who is eligible for the low-income tax offset. It works very well and it has just been increased.

I think most Australians are actually warming to the budget. As I go around Australia, I find that most Australians are very interested in income tax cuts. They know that superannuation has been a massive punch-through, and they know it is only this government that can deliver economic outcomes which are important to them, to their children, to their mortgages, to their businesses and to their planning for the future. It is only the Liberal and National parties that can be trusted with economic management.