Treasurer Wayne Swan delivered the Rudd government’s first budget. (AAP)
By Maria Hawthorne
Wealthy families are the losers under the first Labor federal budget in 13 years, with means testing and a tax crackdown helping to build a record surplus and three major new funds for future investment.
Treasurer Wayne Swan had been expected to deliver a surplus of between $18-$20 billion and savings of about $4 billion.
But he overachieved with a surplus of $21.7 billion - 1.8 per cent of gross domestic product - fuelled by the minerals boom and $7.3 billion in spending cuts, including means testing the baby bonus and family tax benefit B, and cracking down on fringe benefits tax (FBT) rorts.
At least $40 billion will be poured into three new funds for capital investment in infrastructure, health and education to build the nation and bring it into the 21st century, Mr Swan said.
The Building Australia Fund, starting out at $20 billion, will finance roads, rail, ports and broadband networks.
The $11 billion Education Investment Fund will pay for training, TAFE colleges and universities, while the Health and Hospitals Fund will finance improvements to hospitals and the health care system.
”Mr Speaker, this is a government of nation builders,” Mr Swan told parliament.
”We have no intention of hoarding the strong surplus for its own sake. This money is not ours, it belongs to the Australian people.”
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had promised a budget that looked beyond the three-year electoral cycle and focused on five, 10 or 20 years ahead - a promise Mr Swan said had been kept.
”I’m confident Australians will see this as the budget our nation now needs, to beat inflation, and lay the foundation for future growth,” he said.
Every Labor election promise had been met, he said, including personal income tax cuts worth $46.7 billion over four years.
But every dollar of new spending in 2008-09 had been more than matched by savings, including spending cuts and tax rises, he said.
The Howard government’s planned Access Card has been scrapped, saving $1.2 billion over the next five years, 1,200 public service jobs will be lost under the two per cent efficiency dividend, and FBT laws will be tightened.
From January 1, the $5,000 baby bonus will be limited to households with an annual income of under $150,000, and it will no longer be paid as a lump sum but in fortnightly instalments.
Family tax benefit B will also no longer be paid to families on more than $150,000.
Mr Swan denied that Labor was playing the politics of envy, saying the wealthy were not entitled to expect government handouts.
”If you’re on an income of around $150,000, you don’t require federal government transfer of payments,” Mr Swan told reporters.
He rated means testing as the toughest decision he’d made in months of going through government programs line by line, night by night, as part of the budget razor gang.
”I know it’s a decision that will be opposed by many in our community, many hardworking people who feel that they have some entitlement to such a benefit, but I believe governments are elected to take the hard decisions,” he said.
”But if we’re going to set this country up for the 21st century, if we’re going to maximise the opportunities that will flow with both India and China, there’ll be more hard decisions down the road.”
He defended the crackdown on FBT, saying if loopholes emerged in tax systems, they should be closed.
”We don’t make any apologies for that because you know what? If everyone pays their fair share of tax, rates can come down,” he said.
”This is a tough budget but a fair budget.”
He rejected criticisms that he had not made enough cuts to rein in inflation, saying there was a danger of slowing the economy too much.
”It would be a nonsense to have made much more substantial spending cuts - you would have hit the brakes (too) hard.”
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