Labor Federal Budget highlights
On Tuesday 14 of May Dr Jim Chalmers, the Federal Treasurer, unveiled the 2024-25 Budget. The Budget includes efforts to ease everyday expenses for households and small businesses, including measures such as the power bill rebates, reduced medicine costs.
The Budget includes various amendments to previously announced measures, as well as a number of income tax measures that have already been enacted prior to the Budget announcement, including:
- $300 energy bill relief for all Australian households and $325 for eligible small businesses – applied as an automatic quarterly credit.
- The instant asset write-off threshold of $20,000 for small businesses applying the simplified depreciation rules will be extended for 12 months until 30 June 2025.
- Student HELP debts will be cut by changing the way indexation is calculated. From 1 June 2023, it will be the lower of the CPI or the Wage Price Index (WPI), reducing the debt accumulated by more than 3 million Australians when the CPI spiked to 7.1%.
- Increase to the Commonwealth rent assistance maximum rates by 10% from 20 September 2024.
- One year freeze on the maximum Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) patient co-payment for Medicare card holders and a five-year freeze for pensioners and other concession cardholders.
- For foreign residents, the capital gains tax (CGT) regime will be amended to broaden the type of assets subject to CGT and introduce a modified 365-day principal asset testing period.
- Superannuation will be paid on government-funded paid parental leave (PPL) for parents of babies born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025.
- The previously legislated amendments to the Stage Three tax cuts due to take effect from 1 July 2024 were also re-affirmed as part of this Budget.
The Treasurer stated that inflation will decline by 0.75% due to the 2024-25 Federal Budget initiatives, including energy relief for households, a boost to Commonwealth Rent Assistance, and the freezing of the maximum co-payment on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The full Budget papers are available at www.budget.gov.au, and the Treasury ministers’ media releases are available at ministers.treasury.gov.au.
Overview document highlighting the key measures from the 2024–25 Budget.
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