By XAVIER SMERDON
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has assured Wyndham residents that they will take home more money in their pay cheques as she launched the controversial carbon tax this month.
Ms Gillard said all taxpayers from Wyndham who earn $80,000 or less a year would receive a tax cut and people earning up to $18,200 a year would not pay any tax at all.
“Australia has one of the strongest economies in the world, so it’s important that the benefits of the mining boom are shared by communities like ours, which don’t have the same resources in the ground that communities in Western Australia or Queensland might have,” Ms Gillard said.
“We’re putting money back in the pockets of hard working families to help them make ends meet.”
Ms Gillard said the Federal Government had also tripled the tax free threshold from $6000 to $18,200 which was the largest increase in the threshold ever and the first in more than 10 years.
About 62,000 people in Ms Gillard’s electorate of Lalor will receive a tax cut of at least $300 a year and 5000 workers will no longer have to pay income tax.
Ms Gillard said the tax cuts are in addition to the range of other cost of living relief being provided by the Federal Government such as the Schoolkids Bonus and increases to pensions and family
payments for Australians as part of the Household Assistance Package.
