5 Key Take Aways from the 2025-2026 Budget
The 2025 - 2026 Budget has dropped, releasing with it a swath of cost of living improvements.
Here are my 5 takeaways from the budget:
It must be nearing an election, as there are tax cuts for low-income earners. The proposed 2nd tax bracket ie, $18,201 to $45,000 will be dropping from 16% to a proposed 15% in 2027 financial year and 14% in the 2028 financial year for residents.
The ATO has been given increased funding for its audit activity and compliance, specifically it has been give 999 million over 4 years “to extend and expand tax compliance activities. Not sure why it wasn’t a clean billion really…
The help to buy home scheme has been expanded up by 800 million to 6.3 billion with the aim of assisting 40,000 first home buyers to purchase a new or existing home. Honestly this doesn’t really fix the supply problem that the nation is experiencing but I expect to see some first home buyers benefit from it.
The current government if re-elected will cut balances of HELP by 20%, which seems to be more of an election promise as it hasn’t been introduced to parliament at this stage.
Foreign ownership ban on established properties - the government has identified this as one of the drivers in the price increase in recent years so will give the ATO 5.7 million over 4 years from 2025 to 2026 to enforce the ban.
Disclaimer: This information is only commentary on the budget and shouldn’t be used as taxation or financial advice.