Labor to drive Coalition to vote on $17bn tax lower plan as Federal Election looms | USAEMALL.com

Labor will try to rush through its “modest” tax cuts as an attempt to force the Coalition to vote them down, with a federal election expected to be called within days.

Jim Chalmers introduced legislation to amend the Income Tax Rates Act 1986 on Wednesday morning, just 14 hours after he put the policy to Australians while handing down the government’s fourth budget.

This will force the Opposition, who immediately delcared they would not support the measure, to vote down the Bill, giving Labor free reign to criticise the Coalition for opposing the large-scale relief ahead of the election, due by May 17.

The Bill easily passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday 91 to 52, with all Liberal and Coalition MPs voting against the Bill.

While the $17bn plan will only return about $5 a week to taxpayers in the 2026-27 financial year, and about $10 a week from 2027-28, the Treasurer told the chamber it was the bill relief “Australians need and deserve”.

“To stand in the way of this legislation is to vote for higher taxes on Australian workers,” he told the chamber.

“To vote against this legislation would be to stand in the way of more hard earned money staying in the pockets of every hard working Australian.”

The Coalition immediately slammed the tax cut plan after it was announced on Tuesday night, with Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor lashing the policy as an “election bribe” and a “cruel hoax”.

However the Opposition left the door open for its own tax cut plan, with Peter Dutton set to make a major policy announcement on Thursday when he gives his budget reply speech.

While Labor easily passed the Bill in the House of Representatives, it could struggle in the Senate, where it will need the support of the Greens plus three crossbenchers.

The Bill is expected to got to a vote in the Senate late on Thursday night.

Although Greens Leader Adam Bandt says the party will not stand in the way of the support measure, he said the “tiny tax tweak” was a “missed opportunity to provide urgent cost of living relief, like dental into Medicare”.

Jacqui Lambie will also support the Bill, despite criticisms the relief was not targeted to specifically help struggling Australians.

“I won’t stop money going to the people doing it tough even if it’s only a little bit,” she said.

Mr Taylor continued the Coalition’s take down of the measure on Wednesday, listing items Australians could buy with their $5 tax cut which included: “A single lolly, a bread roll a small coin donation to a charity box, a single photocopy”.

“Because if you’re an Australian family with a mortgage, typical mortgage, you’ve paid an extra $50,000 that you didn’t expect to pay in after tax income,” Mr Taylor said.

“And the notion that this even begins to deal with the real challenges that Australian families are facing in hard working families who have got a mortgage is just nonsense. And Jim Chalmers doesn’t get that.”