Greens leader David Shoebridge has unveiled a plan to deliver a $1000-a-year tax cut to almost every working Australian, funded by billions of dollars in new taxes on gas and mining companies, in his first address to the National Press Club since taking the party's top job in September.
The policy, costed by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, would raise the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000, delivering an effective tax cut of around $1000 for the vast majority of workers. Welfare recipients including those on the age pension, carer payments and JobSeeker would also receive a $1000 boost to their annual payments.
What the Greens Tax Cut Package Would Cost
According to the Parliamentary Budget Office costings, the full package would cost $65.1 billion over four years and $234.6 billion over the next decade. It would also add $57.7 billion to government debt interest costs by the mid-2030s.
The threshold change would be the first of its kind since the 2012-13 financial year, when the tax-free threshold was lifted as part of the introduction of the carbon tax. Shoebridge argues the package, estimated to be worth $22 billion a year in total, would not add to inflation pressures, provided it is paired with measures to curb corporate profiteering.
"Putting $1000 in people's pockets only adds to inflation if we don't also do something about corporate profiteering," Shoebridge is expected to say. "We'll take the heat out of the economy by trimming those corporate profits and sharing them with everyone."
Hitting the Resource Sector to Pay the Bill
To fund the cuts, Shoebridge is calling for sweeping new taxes on the resources sector worth a combined $45 billion. A proposed 25 per cent gas export tax, which the federal government rejected ahead of this year's budget, would raise an estimated $17 billion a year. A further $28 billion annually could come from an overhaul of resource rent taxes, drawing on a proposal from left-leaning think tank Prosper.
The resources industry has strongly opposed moves toward higher taxation, arguing such measures would deter new projects and damage employment prospects in regional communities. The federal government, for its part, has opted for a gas reservation policy rather than a gas export tax, despite ongoing criticism from the sector.
Compared to existing and proposed tax relief measures from the major parties, the Greens package is larger in scale. The government is reducing the bottom tax rate to 14 per cent by mid-next year and introducing a $250 working age tax offset from 1 July, while the Coalition has flagged plans to index the bottom two tax thresholds in line with inflation from 2028-29 and all thresholds from 2031. Treasurer Jim Chalmers indicated this week the government was open to further tax cuts but said any action would be contingent on the state of the budget.
A Policy Launch Amid Internal Scrutiny
The policy announcement comes as Shoebridge faces pressure over the party's internal governance. He became leader just two weeks before it emerged he had received a letter from seven active Greens members calling for an independent investigation into allegations that Western Australian senator Jordan Steele-John had made inappropriate comments to women.
Shoebridge has since commissioned an independent inquiry into those allegations. Steele-John has taken personal leave from parliament, meaning he has been absent from Senate estimates hearings this week.
Wednesday's National Press Club address appears designed, at least in part, to move the public conversation toward economic policy. Shoebridge framed the resource tax proposal as a matter of basic fairness, saying the goal was to "end this raw deal on our resources and hand the money back to the people who need it."
Whether the policy gains traction beyond the Greens' existing base will depend heavily on how the broader debate over cost-of-living pressures and corporate taxation plays out in the months ahead, particularly as the Reserve Bank is expected to lift official interest rates to their highest level since 2008 at its meeting next week.
