It’s looking more likely we’ll ditch the stage three tax cuts. Some quick numbers: Treasury has downsized its forecasts for global growth by 0.75% this year, 1% next year, and 0.5% in 2024 as the global economy hurtles towards a probable recession, as the SMH reports. Interest on government debt will climb 14% a year at the same time as defence spending goes up 4.4%, NDIS spending by 12.1%, hospitals by 6.1%, and aged care by 5%. What does this all mean? Our budget is in ruins. It’s all according to Treasurer JimChalmers, who’ll give a speech today about our tricky fiscal position — he’s still not admitting to axing the stage three tax cuts, but they’re the heaviest item in the budget ($243 billion!), as AFR reports, and Chalmers does say “difficult decisions” will need to be made in this budget. It seems at the very least the policy will be amended — and it’s not necessarily going to be unpopular, according to The Australian ($). The paper says Senate powerbrokers the Greens and crossbenchers DavidPocock and JacquiLambie would back changes to the 2018-era cuts, though they’d prefer they go in the bin.
By: Emma Elsworthy
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