I just read this article and I am really in shock. Main wow bit in bold.
Budget 2012: Middle-of-the-road families miss out on tax benefits
IT'S being hailed as a "Robin Hood" Budget, stealing from the miners to give to low and middle-income families.
But don’t get too excited. If you earn a combined income of more than $115,000 you’re unlikely to see much benefit.
And if you’re a single person without children, the Budget offered you even less.
Wayne Swan's "battler" Budget took $5 billion intended for company tax cuts and diverted them to tax benefits for 1.5 million families.
But families with two kids under 12 can only earn a combined income of up to $112,000 in order to qualify for an extra $200 a year under the Family Tax Benefit Part A.
Steve Campbell and his wife Kim earn more than this, but still find themselves struggling some weeks.
“The ALP have carried on with headline grabbers and acting like Robin Hood when a large portion of the families doing it tough, get nothing due to means testing,” said Mr Campbell, who lives in Brisbane with his two children, Aly, 5, and Dex, 3.
“If you and your spouse are gainfully employed to provide and pay the bills you get nothing."
Mr Campbell and his wife want to buy their own home but are finding it practically impossible.
“We can make the repayments, but we cannot get the $25,000 deposit required to get into a modest family home,” he said.
“It's taken for granted that families at our level are on easy street. Far from it.”
From July 1 next year families with two kids under 12 will get an extra $600 if they earn less than $78,000, and this drops to $200 if their income is between $78,000 and $112,000.
Families with two teenage children must have a combined income of less than $115,000 in order to get a $200 boost, and will get an extra $600 if they earn less than $85,000.
And while the Budget offered plenty of goodies to families, young singles felt left out in the cold.
A single person earning $80,000 will only be better off by 6 cents a week.
Nina Dela Cruz, 34, works in media and sales and wasn’t overjoyed by yesterday’s Budget, which yet again gave nothing to single tax payers.
“How about the people who are making the economy work? We have to wait until we get old or are forced to have children to benefit from the Government’s tax breaks.”
“We are the people who are making the economy strive – and we get zero.”
Ms Dela Cruz said that she doesn’t fall into the $300,000 bracket, but she is a high income earner and still finds it extremely difficult to plan for the future.
“I pay huge taxes and still all I see is prices going up and I get little in the way of concessions."
