Family Assistance cuts
Family Tax Benefit B is set to be further means-tested to a new threshold of $100,000 a year, a reduction of $50,000 from the current threshold. Further, the government has proposed to reduce the reach of this benefit by making families where the primary earner earns more than $100,000 unable to access the payment.
There are about 135,000 Australian families expected to be effected by the above changes.
Paid Parental Leave
Budget changes also extends to eligible working parents of children born or adopted on or after July 1 2015 access to 26 weeks of parental leave pay at a rate based on their wage, capped at $50,000 instead of $75,000. It will also provide superannuation contributions.
High Income Earners
The government has confirmed the introduction of a three-year temporary ‘deficit levy’ on those who earn over $180,000 a year. The levy will apply at a rate of 2% on the highest income tax bracket, which is expected to raise $3.1 billion over a four-year period.
The temporary change will also be reflected in a number of other tax rates for the same period that are based on calculations that include the top personal income rate. Most notably, Fringe Benefits Tax will be increased from 47% to 49% from the same period (1 April 2015 until March 2017).
HELP System
Changes to the HELP repayment system will mean from 2016 students will have to start paying their debts back earlier, at a rate of 2%, when they earn $50,638 or more.
Currently graduates do not have to start paying down their HELP debts until they earn $53,345.
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