Working people struggle to make ends meet

ACTU Factsheet 19 May 2005

Household debt is at records levels with Australians in the red by $758 billion and on average, each household owes nearly one and half times (148%) its annual disposable income.
The ACTU fears that in the coming months the living standards of working Australians will be further undermined as the Howard Government introduces new workplace laws that push more people onto individual contracts with lower wages, worse conditions, fewer rights and less job security.

Unfair tax cuts
The tax cuts given by the Federal Government in its last two Budgets are unfair for low and middle income working Australians:

• High income earners making more than $120,000 a year get a tax cut of more than $100 a week. Plus, they get an extra $24 a week (at least) from the decision to axe the super tax surcharge. A total tax cut of at least $124 a week.
• By contrast 72% of low and middle income Australian taxpayers (6.7 million people) who earn less than $52,000 a year gets a tax cut of $6 a week or less — a ‘two cappuccino tax cut’.

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