Tax cuts aimed squarely at regions, PM declares

The bulk of workers in Australia’s regional areas are set to get tax relief under Labor’s changes.

Regional Australians will overwhelmingly benefit from stage three tax cuts with more than eight in 10 bush residents better off under the federal government’s revamped plan, Labor modelling shows.

Cuts will flow to 13.6 million taxpayers including 86 per cent of the workforce beyond the nation’s major centres, Anthony Albanese will tell Country Labor conference delegates at Nowra on the NSW south coast on Sunday.

Some 960,000 taxpayers across regional and rural areas of the state would come out financially in front of where they would have been, had Labor not tweaked the stage three package, the prime minister will say.

“Our tax cuts are aimed squarely at regional Australia.”

Mr Albanese is expected to repeat his claim that the opposition’s gut reaction had been to reject the changed stage three cuts and promise to roll them back.

“Then, because they actually heard the Australian people’s strong support … they changed their mind, gritted their teeth and said they’d support them after all,” he will say.

“Even then, they’re still dreaming of rollbacks.”

Low and middle income earners breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday after the changes cleared a major hurdle, passing the lower house of federal parliament with support from the coalition and cross bench.

Under the amended proposal, Australians earning under $150,000 will receive a greater tax cut than under the original plan.

Those earning above $150,000 will still receive a tax cut but less than previously forecast.

The legislation will move to the Senate for debate and if endorsed take effect from July 1.

The opposition did put forward an amendment to the bill, suggesting changing the legislation’s name to include the phrases “broken promise” and “entrenching bracket creep”.

Mr Albanese promised during the 2022 election campaign Labor would not alter the stage three cuts but said economic circumstances had changed since the original measures were brought in during 2019.

“We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn,” the prime minister is due to tell conference delegates on Sunday.