The Prime Minister has spent two years showing he is completely out of touch with the issues that matter to Australians.

The Prime Minister has now proven we cannot trust a word he says on any issue.

Media reports this afternoon make it clear Labor looks set to break their promise on stage three tax cuts.

The stage three tax cuts were legislated in 2019 with bipartisan support. Australians have been working for four years with the expectation they would be rolled out in full, no matter who is in government.

The number of Australians in the top tax bracket has doubled in the 16 years since it was introduced, and over a million households are expected to be captured by it by 2030.

Meanwhile, middle income earners have seen their effective tax rates increase significantly from 17, 10 and even five years ago.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said any change to the legislated tax cuts would be a betrayal to the Australian people.

“Anthony Albanese is proving once and for all that you cannot trust Labor on tax.

“This is the mother of all broken promises. Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers have promised over 100 times the stage three tax cuts, as legislated, would not change.

“After weeks of weasel words and word games, it's clear this is a Prime Minister who can’t be trusted.

“Australians have voted for these tax cuts twice. Any change to the legislated tax cuts is an absolute betrayal of the trust Australians have placed in this government.

“If the Prime Minister is going to break this promise, he needs to front up and be honest with the Australian people rather than relying on whispers through the media”

“In Labor’s first 18 months in government, personal income tax has risen by a record 27%. Bracket creep, driven by rampant inflation, is the thief in the night. It is the tax increase Australians never voted for. Now with this broken promise, many Australians will be hit with a double whammy.

“This is class warfare, plain and simple. And no one has ever solved an inflation crisis by using class warfare.

“It’s clear Labor wants to tax its way out of inflation and Australian families are paying the price.”

ENDS.

ON BACKGROUND:

Stage 1 and 2 of the Plan have already been delivered, resulting in a permanently lower tax burden for low and middle income earners. The Coalition also extended the low and middle income tax offset (LMITO), which was scrapped by the government.

• Stage 1 included:

  • Lifting the upper threshold for the 32.5% tax rate from $87,000 to $90,000.
  • Introducing the Low and Middle Income Offset as a temporary measure until stage 2 came into effect.
  • In the 2019-20 Budget, the Government more than doubled the benefit to low and middle-income earners by increasing the LMITO from $530 to $1,080.

• In the 2020-21 Budget, the Government brought forward Stage 2 of the PIT Plan by two years to 1 July 2020:

  • The low income tax offset (LITO) increased from $445 to $700.
  • The top threshold of the 19 per cent personal income tax bracket increased from $37,000 to $45,000.
  • The top threshold of the 32.5 per cent personal income tax bracket increased from $90,000 to $120,000.
  • The Government also retained the LMITO – which was scheduled to be removed with the introduction of Stage 2 – for the 2020-21 income year as an additional measure to support households through COVID.