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Single parents will be hardest hit by budget cuts to family tax benefits Single parents will be hardest hit by budget cuts to family tax benefits
(4 months later)
Sole Sole parents, single parents and parents of disabled children will be hardest hit under changes to family tax benefits, designed to save money and get primary carers back to work.
parents, single parents and parents of disabled children will be hardest hit Families who receive family tax benefit B (FTB-B) – sole parents and families with one parent at home – will lose the payment once their youngest child turns six. Currently the payments cut out at the age of 18.
under changes to family tax benefits, designed to save money and get primary The cut, which saves $1.9bn over five years, aims to “encourage workforce participation” by primary carers. Families who now qualify will lose a maximum annual payment of $3,018.55 once their youngest child reaches six.
carers back to work. Overall, family payments will have stricter income tests, earlier cut-outs and a temporary freeze to indexation under a range of measures expected to save the budget more than $5bn.
Families The FTB-B income test will also be lowered from $150,000 to $100,000, achieving a saving of $1.2bn over four years. The threshold is also lowered for the dependent invalid and carer tax offset, a tax program for people whose spouses are disabled or who are carers of disabled children.
who receive family tax benefit B (FTB-B) – sole parents and families with one The budget papers say the changes, which apply from 1 July 2015, “will better target assistance to families on lower incomes and will improve the on-going sustainability of family payments”.
parent at home – will lose the payment once their youngest child turns six. The family tax changes also affect families who receive FTB part A, as the government will freeze payment rates for both A and B for two years from 1 July this year. This is estimated to save $2.6bn over four years.
Currently the payments cut out at the age of 18. But the government has introduced a new family tax benefit allowance for single parents with school-age children to make up for the loss of FTB-B. Single parents who qualify for FTB-A will receive $750 for each child aged between six and 12 years.
The cut, The large family supplement, which now applies to families with three children at a rate of $313.90 for each child a year, will now only be paid to families with four children.
which saves $1.9bn over five years, aims to “encourage workforce participation” The cuts come just 12 months after the Coalition was highly critical of the Labor government extending a freeze on income thresholds for family payments and FTB supplement payments until 2017.
by primary carers. Families who now qualify will lose a maximum annual payment “Last night’s chaotic budget delivers a cruel blow to Australian families on International Families Day and at the start of National Families Week,” Tony Abbott said after the 2013 budget.
of $3,018.55 once their youngest child reaches six. “The budget delivers more debt, more deficits, more taxes, more broken promises and more uncertainty.”
Overall, At the time, the Coalition said the decision would impact on “the 1.5 million families who receive FTB-A and 1.3 million families who receive FTB-B as the FTB supplement payments fail to keep pace with rising costs of living”.
family payments will have stricter income tests, earlier cut-outs and a “Labor’s latest unprecedented attacks on family support payments and household budgets [come] at the time when families can least afford it,” he said.
temporary freeze to indexation under a range of measures expected to save the
budget more than $5bn.
The
FTB-B income test will also be lowered from $150,000 to $100,000, achieving a
saving of $1.2bn over four years. The threshold is also lowered for the dependent
invalid and carer tax offset, a tax program for people whose spouses are
disabled or who are carers of disabled children.
The
budget papers say the changes, which apply from 1 July 2015, “will better target assistance to
families on lower incomes and will improve the on-going sustainability of
family payments”.
The family
tax changes also affect families who receive FTB part A, as the government will
freeze payment rates for both A and B for two years from 1 July this year. This
is estimated to save $2.6bn over four years.
But the
government has introduced a new family tax benefit allowance for single parents
with school-age children to make up for the loss of FTB-B. Single parents who
qualify for FTB-A will receive $750 for each child aged between six and 12
years.
The large
family supplement, which now applies to families with three children at a rate
of $313.90 for each child a year, will now only be paid to families with four
children.
The cuts
come just 12 months after the Coalition was highly critical of the Labor
government extending a freeze on income thresholds for family payments and FTB
supplement payments until 2017.
“Last
night’s chaotic budget delivers a cruel blow to Australian families on
International Families Day and at the start of National Families Week,” Tony Abbott
said after the 2013 budget.
“The
budget delivers more debt, more deficits, more taxes, more broken promises and
more uncertainty.”
At the
time, the Coalition said the decision would impact on “the 1.5 million families
who receive FTB-A and 1.3 million families who receive FTB-B as the FTB
supplement payments fail to keep pace with rising costs of living”.
“Labor’s
latest unprecedented attacks on family support payments and household budgets [come]
at the time when families can least afford it,” he said.