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Chalmers says Labor returning bracket creep in a ‘responsible way’
Krishani Dhanji
Jim Chalmers says the opposition’s policy to index tax brackets would cost the budget a quarter of a trillion dollars over ten years, while claiming that the government is returning bracket creep to taxpayers.
It’s a slightly tricky position, as Angus Taylor argues that Labor is “betraying” itself because the high figure is actually how much the government is keeping and spending through bracket creep ever year.
Bracket creep is where inflation and wage rises push taxpayers into higher tax brackets, so they get taxed more but are still paying more for goods, so end up going backwards.
Chalmers told the ABC’s Insiders program that the government is “enthusiastic” about returning bracket creep but is doing it in a responsible way.
double quotation markThis is a Government that returns bracket creep when it is responsible to do that.
That [policy] would cost tens of billions of dollars in extra debt interest, because he’s got these uncosted, unfunded, tax announcements that he [Taylor] made in his Budget reply, which was all about trying to stave off One Nation.”
Host, David Speers, kept pushing Chalmers on the figure, and whether Labor is returning all of the bracket creep accrued by the government. Chalmers skirted the question and says that it’s being returned in a “responsible and affordable” way.
Chalmers added that Taylor’s proposed measure would stoke inflation in Australia:
double quotation markWhat Angus Taylor is proposing to do is to pump the most money into the economy when inflation is already at its highest.
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Updated at 01.49 CEST
Krishani Dhanji
Taylor rebukes claims his tax bracket indexation will cost $250bn over ten years
Angus Taylor says claims by Labor that his commitment to index tax brackets will cost $250bn over ten years “betrays” how much the government will be claiming in income tax over that period.
Taylor committed to indexing tax brackets to inflation in his budget reply, which he says will cost about $22.5bn over four years, not $35bn as the government has claimed.
The measures would begin for the first two tax brackets from 2028-29 and then for the higher two brackets from 2031-32.
Taylor says:
double quotation mark“This betrays the fact that the government plans to raise income tax rates to the tune of $35 billion This says more about their plan than our plan …
If Labor’s saying that they plan to raise income taxes to the tune of $250 billion in the next 10 years … [if] that is their tax hike, that’s their planned income tax increases.”
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government is not contemplating changing its position on the introduction of an export tax on gas.
Labor had been under pressure internally and externally to introduce a 25% export levy as part of the budget, which would have produced an estimated $17bn revenue.
Asked whether they’d change their position on that tax, Chalmers said:
double quotation markWell, not something that we’ve been contemplating.
Obviously, that’s been a lot of public debate about that and a lot of strong views about that but we’ve made it clear that there are good reasons to prioritise our gas reservation policy and the two-way supply arrangements with Asian partners.
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Jim Chalmers says the changes to capital gains taxes for property and non-property investments are designed to “[take] one of the big distortions out of the market.
Chalmers said:
double quotation markA really big mistake was made in 1999 and it introduced this massive distortion in the way that Australians invest in our economy. It made fixed housing much more attractive and it made other kinds of investment less attractive.
So by taking that distortion out of the system, it is a fairer, more neutral treatment of investment, capital gains in particular, and if you look at the average over a couple of decades, since that policy mistake was made by Howard and Costello, what you can see on average is that established housing was overcompensated. Shares were under-compensated. That’s one of the reasons we had this big spike in prices.
It’s one of the reasons why so many people, particularly young people, have been locked out of the housing market and also why shares over time have become relatively less attractive.
In response to polling this week that suggested voters weren’t particularly thrilled with the economic outlook, Chalmers said:
double quotation markWe didn’t do this to get a bounce in the polls.
We did it to get a boost in first home-ownership, particularly among younger Australians who have been locked out.
If you think about it, you know, we’ve got this Budget full hard decisions, not handouts.
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Jim Chalmers claims the tax reform elements of this week’s budget are “broadly neutral” over the forward estimates.
Asked by Insiders host David Speers how much extra tax the changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax and trusts actually raise, Chalmers said the changes would also “[return] what we are raising to workers and businesses, principally small businesses.”
Chalmers continued:
double quotation markNow, over the 10-year period, the capital gains and negative gearing changes are a little bit over $40bn and the trust changes are also a little bit over $40bn.
But there’s also the tax cuts in there, the working Australian tax offset, over the course of the next 10 years, there’s loss-carryback tax cuts for business.
So, overall, we’ve pointed out, David, that if you look at that 10-year period, there’s about three times as much savings as there is tax changes in net terms but those two specific categories are a little bit over $40bn each.
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Updated at 01.53 CEST
‘Many billions of savings’ from stripping welfare from non-citizens, Taylor says
Krishani Dhanji
The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, says “billions” could be saved from removing social welfare entitlements from non-citizens – including permanent residents – but refuses to say how much.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Taylor says the costings will be released ahead of the next election.
double quotation markThere’s many billions of savings. There’s no doubt about that. We’ll put all our costings out, as is the convention, in the lead up to the election, but it’s many billions of savings in this. And this is all about making sure Australian taxpayers’ dollars are well spent, are focused on the benefits of Australians and making Australians better off.
There’s a few key costings and numbers that the opposition’s plan is missing. Taylor also still won’t confirm how much the Coalition would cut the net overseas migration (NOM) target to, after announcing that he would tie immigration intake to new housing construction.
Angus Taylor. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
When probed on Thursday night after his budget reply, Taylor said that the number would be about 40% below current levels and under 200,000. The NOM for the last financial year 2024-25 was 306,000.
double quotation markWhat we’re proposing here is each year the housing minister would say we’ve built this many houses, and so the immigration number, the net overseas migration number, can be X.
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Updated at 01.36 CEST
The opposition leader Angus Taylor was on Sky News this morning suggesting Labor’s plan to index tax thresholds might cost the budget as much as $250bn over a decade.
Jim Chalmers, responding to Taylor’s comments on ABC’s Insiders, said Taylor’s proposed budget approach was “irresponsible”.
double quotation markLast time we cut income taxes, Angus Taylor voted against it and said he would repeal it.
Chalmers continued:
double quotation markAngus Taylor would be adding a quarter of a trillion dollars to national debt. That would cost tens of billions of dollars in extra debt interest, because he’s got these uncosted, unfunded, tax announcements that he made in his Budget reply, which was all about trying to stave off One Nation.
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Some federal politics for you coming up: we’re expecting to hear the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, speaking on ABC’s Insiders shortly – we’ll bring you that when it happens.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is in Melbourne today and doing a press conference at about the same time as his treasurer is speaking on the telly. We’ll let you know what comes out of that presser too.
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Updated at 01.16 CEST
LNP concedes Stafford byelection
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has conceded the inner-northern Brisbane seat of Stafford to Labor after a tight byelection race.
While the final result was not declared on Saturday night and the outcome could come down to postal votes, Crisafulli acknowledged the Liberal National party candidate, Fiona Hammond, was unlikely to win, but claimed his party had received a substantial swing towards it:
double quotation markI do think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, guys. I think we’re going to fall agonisingly short, but boy, oh boy, what an incredible campaign from an incredible, incredible candidate.
With almost 80% of ballots counted on Saturday evening, Labor’s Luke Richmond was ahead by 768 votes on late Saturday night. Labor was likely to retain the seat despite a 4.1% swing against them, chief ABC analyst Casey Briggs said on X:
double quotation markLabor is likely to retain Stafford. There has been a 4.1 per cent swing against Labor with additional postal votes still to be counted. But for the LNP to win from here, those postal votes would need to break very strongly in its favour. That is very unlikely to happen.
Polls closed at 6pm, with more than 14,000 people casting ballots on the day. Almost 42% of people chose to vote early, 13,530 in person and 3,860 by post.
The byelection in the marginal electorate was called after the sudden death of former independent MP Jimmy Sullivan on 9 April. Sullivan was expelled from Labor in May 2025 over medical concerns.
The opposition leader, Steven Miles, told Labor’s packed election night party last night:
double quotation markI am so thrilled to tell you that Luke Richmond is the new member for Stafford.
The byelection was widely seen as a test of former premier Miles’ leadership. He has led the party since taking over from Annastacia Palaszczuk in December 2023.
Asked if Labor would do better if it were led by someone else, Miles said on Saturday night that would be “a decision for the caucus, but I have the support of the caucus right now to be leader”.
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Updated at 01.18 CEST
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our Sunday live news blog. I’m Stephanie Convery and I’ll be bringing you all the top stories today.
First up, Labor has likely won a Queensland byelection despite a 4.1% swing against them. The party was ahead with almost 80% of ballots counted for the inner northern Brisbane seat of Stafford late on Saturday evening, but the final determination could come down to postal votes. More on that shortly.
And five men have now been charged by the Australian federal police as part of an investigation into the alleged access and distribution of extremist material online.
Grab yourself a coffee, and I’ll bring you more on all these events shortly.
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Ref: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/may/17/australia-news-live-stafford-queensland-labor-lnp-jim-chalmers-federal-budget-anthony-albanese-angus-taylor-aukus-coalition-ntwnfb
