Australian federal Treasurer Wayne Swan unveiled his sixth budget in Canberra tonight. We’ll be covering the best of the reaction from everywhere on Business Insider this evening but here are the key points:
BOTTOM LINE
KEY SAVINGS MEASURES
- Crackdown on corporate tax loopholes to chase down around another $4 billion in revenue from business over the next four years
- Increase of 0.5% to the Medicare levy confirmed to fund National Disability Insurance Scheme, or DisabilityCare – brings in over $3 billion a year
- Abolishing the baby bonus
- An ATO crackdown on the use of trusts to avoid tax and an expanded use of data matching to ensure compliance, with a combined revenue result of almost $1 billion over four years
- Phasing out the net medical expenses tax offset, saving over $900m (it gets replaced by aspects of the DisabilityCare)
- Changing the eligibility for R&D tax concessions, so they only apply to companies with an aggregate turnover of $20 billion – saving the government $1.1 billion over four years
- Increasing the threshold that allows the government to raid “lost” superannuation accounts from $2000 to $3000 over the next three years – netting the government around $118 million
ECONOMIC GROWTH
Projected growth of 3% this year
Reduced to 2.75% in 2013-14 but recovering to 3% in 2014-15
UNEMPLOYMENT
Projected to be 5.5% for the June quarter of this year, then rising slightly over the following two years to 5.75% – some economists suspect it will be higher.
INFLATION
Projected at 2.5% through the year to June this year, moderating to 2.25% over the following two years
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