“Whatever Peter Dutton says now,we know from the experience in 2013-14 that you can’t trust these guys when it comes to Medicare and when it comes to the cost of living.”

The Labor attack on Dutton seeks to contrast this year’s tax cut and health spending with the Coalition’s cuts to education and health in the May 2014 budget,when Tony Abbott was prime minister and Dutton was health minister.

Taylor rejected the new tax cuts by saying workers deserved more help to lift their living standards,amid speculation the Coalition would consider a tax plan of its own.

“The Coalition will not support these tax changes that do nothing to address the collapse in living standards under Labor,” Taylor said.

“Seventy cents a day,in a year’s time,is not going to help address the financial stress Australian families are currently under.”

The federal budget also offers a sweeping change to workplace law to make it easier for people to leave employers by cracking down on “non-compete” clauses,a move that takes on big business and sets up a challenge for the Coalition on whether it backs the change.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to call the election within days to take Australians to the polls on May 3 or May 10,but the budget departs from previous election-year documents in funding only $2.5 billion in spending decisions taken but not yet announced – a measure of policies kept secret until the formal election campaign.

The Labor budget agenda is now largely revealed for Albanese and Chalmers to use the campaign to hammer the message to voters about the assistance with the cost of living,in a calculation that it will take weeks to communicate the benefits to the electorate.

Albanese has repeatedly likened his election strategy to “kicking with the wind in the final quarter” and has described Dutton as being too slow to run onto the field with major policies.

While the new tax cuts are relatively small,the government sought to amplify the impact by adding the latest changes to the revamp of the stage 3 tax cuts early last year – claiming the total benefit would be worth $2190 from July 2027 for an average worker.

Australians will have to wait until July 2026 for the “top-up tax cut” to take effect,however,and the boost will not be enough to return all the impact of “bracket creep”.

“They are modest in isolation but meaningful in combination,” Chalmers said of the total tax cuts.

A worker on $100,000 a year,for instance,is receiving a tax cut worth $2179 this financial year from the stage 3 tax cuts,but this would rise to $2447 in the year from July 2026 after the “top-up” tax cut begins. It would rise again to $2715 from July 2027.

The tax cut works by reducing the 16 per cent tax rate,which applies to salaries between $18,000 and $45,000,to 15 per cent from July 2026. It then cuts the rate to 14 per cent from July 2027.

This means workers earning up to $45,000 receive some of the $536 benefit in the second year and all subsequent years,but the full benefit goes to every worker over that threshold,no matter how high their taxable income.

Of the $7.4 billion annual cost of the “top-up” tax cuts once they are applied in full,$4.7 billion goes to the workers earning between $45,000 and $135,000 – the key target for both major parties at the election.

While Chalmers acclaimed the dividends from Labor’s economic management in his speech to parliament,the budget papers confirm a fall into deficits after two years of surplus and a deepening in Commonwealth debt,which will reach $1.2 trillion by June 2029.

Interest payments on the debt will rise from $23.9 billion this year to $41.7 billion in the 2029 financial year,surpassing the annual funding Canberra gives the states and territories to run their hospitals.

The forecasts for 2027-28,for instance,have deteriorated from a deficit of $24.3 billion in the budget one year ago to a deficit of $31.7 billion in the update last December. The deficit in that year is tipped to be $37.2 billion,including the $7.4 billion cost of the “top-up” tax cuts.

Independent economist Chris Richardson said he was worried about the absence of tough decisions to manage spending.“Of course,they’re going to give money to middle Australia just ahead of an election,but it’s not necessarily the smart play,” Richardson said.

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