Budget at a glance

Tax cuts

The Government will provide personal tax cuts worth $21.7 billion over four years, increasing incentives to work and save, assisting low income earners and keeping Australia internationally competitive.

These tax cuts build on the $14.7 billion in personal tax cuts in the 2004-05 Budget.

The Government will provide a further $2.5 billion over four years to boost superannuation savings by abolishing the superannuation surcharge, with effect from 1 July 2005.

Encouraging welfare to work

The Government is committed to increasing workforce participation. The welfare system will be reformed so that welfare recipients who are able to work part-time will be obliged to do so. The payment structure will be changed to provide better incentives to work.

And funding of more than $2 billion in new and expanded services is provided to help those with new work obligations find and keep a job.

Boosting skills

The Government is delivering extra reforms in vocational education and training. Together with more skilled migration and increased investment in Australian schools, these initiatives will deliver a further boost to the national skills pool.

Assisting Australian business

The Government is assisting business to sustain high rates of productivity. This budget includes an additional $1.8 billion of tax cuts to Australian business over the next four years, including the removal of the 3 per cent tariff on business inputs and provision of tax relief for black hole expenditures.