Federal Budget 2022-23

Motorists

The fuel excise - which costs motorists 44c a litre - has been slashed in half for six months. The 22 cent cut applies from midnight March 29, providing relief at the bowser within two weeks. A family with two cars filling up once a week could save about $30 a week, or $700 over six months.

Low To Middle Income Earners

About 10 million Australians earning less than $126,000 get a one-off, $420 “cost of living tax offset” this year, which, combined with the existing $1080 low-to-middle income tax offset (LMITO), could mean up to $1500 extra in a single’s pockets when they lodge their return from July 1, or $3000 for a couple.

The LMITO, introduced in 2018, will come to an end after this financial year.

Pensioners And Welfare Recipients

A one-off cash bonus of $250 to help pensioners, the unemployed, veterans and concession card holders with soaring cost of living pressures will land in six million people’s bank accounts before the expected May election.

This group will also benefit from cheaper medicine - needing 12 fewer scripts before they get a discount on their prescriptions. (A saving of $81.60 if they fill more than 36 prescriptions in a year).

New Parents

Changes to paid parental leave allow new dads to share in 20 weeks of payments. Rather than mums getting 18 weeks and their partner just two, families can carve up the allowance how best suits them.

Single parents will also get the extra two weeks of support.

The threshold to access the payments changes to $350,000 for a household, fixing an outdated measure where a mum who earnt more than $151,350 was ineligible for the payment - even if their partner brought in no money.

First Home Buyers

Thousands more first home buyers will be able to get into the market with just a 5 per cent deposit. The Home Guarantee Scheme is being made permanent and expanded from 20,000 places to 50,000. There will be 35,000 spots allocated to metropolitan areas. 10,000 places will go to people wanting to set down roots in a regional area if they haven’t owned a home for the past five years, and 5000 places are for single parents, who only need a 2 per cent deposit.

Apprentices

Apprentices in priority areas like construction and carpentry will get a $5000 cash payment, paid in $1250 instalments every six months over two years.

Small Business

Small businesses will be able to claim $120 for every $100 spent on digital technologies like cloud computing, eInvoicing, cyber security and web design. They’ll also be able to claim an extra 20 per cent on training up their staff.