Today is the day, July 1, that the so-called Stage Three income tax cuts begin to take effect.
Government advertising selling tax cuts has been underway for some time, but will increase in the coming weeks and months.
Every Australian earning more than $18,200 a year will receive some form of tax relief.
If you earn $30,000 a year, you’ll receive $6.81 more in your pay package each week. If you win $80,000 it’s $32.29.
Someone earning $150,000 receives $71.71 more. Someone earning $200,000 a year receives an additional $87.10 in their pay packet each week.
The Labor government has now rebranded the tax cuts as “cost of living tax cuts” and the sales pitch is very serious.
Voters do not have to do anything to be eligible for these tax cuts. There are no forms to fill out.
The extra money is automatically added to your next pay packet when it hits your bank account.
Anthony Albanese’s government spent years in opposition arguing that official advertising was too partisan and did not focus enough on providing serious information rather than manipulating the situation. Now, here we are…
So in a sense, it doesn’t really matter what you do and what you don’t know about them. You’ll reap the benefits of the tax cuts and be able to use the extra money to cope with the rising cost of goods and services.
Or to help cover the cost of increases in your mortgage payments, courtesy of all those interest rate increases in recent years.
This comes as further rate hikes in August and September are now also more likely, as inflation remains higher than it should be.
But achieving these tax cuts can push inflation even further north, raising prices and interest rates.
However, without the tax cuts, the impact of rising income levels would be even worse than it already is. We pay more income taxes than most other advanced countries.
From the above it is clear how the government sells these tax cuts, at least to him.
That’s why he’s spending $40 million on a massive advertising campaign to try to take maximum credit for the tax cuts.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
And crucially for Anthony Albanese’s government: if voters get a tax cut but don’t know Labor gave it to them, do they get credit?
This neatly sums up why the Labor Party is spending $40m of taxpayers’ money selling and advertising its tax cuts.
Money well spent to help win the next election.
They have even created a somewhat Orwellian-named Office of Public Information to help sell the tax cuts.
Between 15 and 20 people are employed to develop messages that appeal to voters. At a cost of $5 million, plus their taxes.
The Public Information Branch will also strategically purchase media space and engage in social media.
An example of one of the taxpayer-funded government advertisements
It’s always better to have more knowledge than less, so knowing what tax cuts we’ll all get isn’t a bad thing.
But in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, it’s reasonable to ask whether spending $40 million to raise awareness about something that happens automatically is the best way to do it.
Meanwhile, the Treasurer is quick to rule out increases in things like the old-age pension and unemployment benefits, because there is apparently no room in the budget.
Shortly after his election, the Labor Party massively cut government-funded advertising, having spent years in Opposition arguing that it was too partisan and did not focus enough on providing serious information without spin.
Fast forward to today. The election is just around the corner and the opinion polls are considerably closer than when the new Labour government was enjoying its honeymoon. Now, taxpayer-funded, partisan advertising is back with a vengeance.
