PARTICIPATION AND REWARD FOR EFFORT

The Government will improve participation and reward for effort by:

• Providing $47 billion worth of tax cuts in its first three years.
• Tripling the tax free threshold from $6,000 to $18,200 from 1 July 2012, and then further to $19,400 from 1 July 2015.
• Improving participation incentives for carers by allowing single principal carers to earn more income before they lose income support. Due to the decrease in the taper rates single principal carers will be able to earn around $440 extra per fortnight, while still receiving some payment.
• Reducing barriers to participation in the transfer system, including the consolidation of eight existing dependency tax offsets into a single offset, for those maintaining a dependent who is genuinely unable to work.
• Reforming out-dated workforce participation disincentives for spouses without dependent children, by restricting the Dependent Spouse Tax Offset to taxpayers with spouses born before 1 July 1952.
• Strengthening incentives for young people to work by increasing the income they can earn before they start to lose benefits.
• Increasing the number of hours that a person on the Disability Support Pension can work and retain access to their pension from 15 to 30 hours per week.
• Providing participation incentives for parents by removing grandfathering arrangements for Parenting Payment recipients, so that they lose eligibility when their youngest child turns six (PP) or eight (PPS).
• Enhancing the incentive for mature workers to remain in the workforce, by removing the age limit for the Superannuation Guarantee.