Anglicare Australia has released Left Behind, a paper showing that the planned Stage 3 Tax Cuts will go to highest income earners in the country and leave behind regional, rural, and disadvantaged areas.
Released today, the paper shows that most Australians will not get any benefit from the changes. This is because tax relief for low and middle income earners has come to an end just as Australians prepare for the introduction of the Stage 3 Tax Cuts. The changes leave most Australians worse off or with no change at all.
“When the Tax Cuts were passed in 2019, Australians were told they would be better off. Our analysis shows that’s not true,” said Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers.
“In the years since these changes were planned, our world has changed. Australians have lived through fires, floods, and a pandemic only to enter a cost-of-living crisis.
“Instead of helping people cope, these changes will leave behind the most disadvantaged part of the country.
“Regional and rural areas that are struggling to cope with rising living costs will see almost no benefit. People in regional NSW are among the biggest losers – half of the regions in the bottom ten of our analysis are in regional parts of the state.
“When we look at States and Territories, it is Tasmania that will miss out the most. Tasmania has the country’s least affordable rents and its highest rate of poverty. Instead of getting help to cope with soaring living costs, these changes will see taxpayers in Tasmania supporting the country’s highest income earners.
“This is a clear choice. If the Government can afford to spend a quarter of a trillion dollars on the country’s wealthiest areas, then it can surely afford to help those who have been hit the hardest by the cost-of-living crisis.”
Left Behind shows that:
- The tax changes will benefit people living in the wealthiest parts of Australia’s major cities
- Tasmanians will get the least benefit of any State or Territory
- Half of the regions in the bottom ten are in regional NSW
- All regions in the bottom ten are regional or rural areas.