Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Day for that question. The government is committed to lower income taxes to adjust for bracket creep. I would refer Senator Day to the budget papers, where we actually disclosed that very transparently—in particular, Budget Paper No. 1 at 1-5, 3-6 and chart 1 at 7-6. The point that I make is that we are very mindful that bracket creep, left unchecked, will push more and more middle-income families into the higher tax bracket. That is bad for economic growth, it is bad for jobs and it is bad for living standards for middle-income families. That is another reason why we need to repair the budget mess that we have inherited. Under Labor, we were on a trajectory to $667 billion in debt in 2023-24 and rising. That was based on an assumption in their last budget that there would be no adjustment for bracket creep throughout that whole period. If there had been adjustment for bracket creep through that period, that debt figure would be $748 billion and rising.

Senator Day, I would refer you to the high-level statement in the budget overview:

With the changes in this Budget debt would be $389 billion in a decade; $277 billion lower than the projection of $667 billion at MYEFO, and assuming future tax relief.

There is more detail on that in the budget. The important point is that for the government to be able to deliver on this, for the government to be able to provide tax relief for middle-income families, we need to be able to get the structural savings reforms through the parliament. We cannot deliver the income tax relief for middle-income families envisaged in the budget without the Senate passing the savings measures that are currently being held up because Labor is being so irresponsible. (Time expired)