Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared “no other budget in the 2000s has set out this much responsible budget repair and this much economic reform.”

Despite his claims, Tuesday night’s budget remains highly contentious – especially Labor abandoning its election commitments not to change capital gains tax discount and negative gearing.

The treasurer joined us on the podcast to explain and defend his fifth budget.

Expanding on his budget night statement about wanting to “rebalance a system which is more generous to assets than it is to labour”, Chalmers said he had deliberately created “new architecture” to give more options for providing future tax cuts.

The intention there is to give future governments the option to provide tax relief the usual way […] cutting rates and thresholds. Or cutting taxes specifically for workers via this new architecture, the [$250] Working Australians Tax Offset. […] I think I’ve demonstrated an enthusiasm to return bracket creep and cut income taxes where we can afford to do that. And this will provide another way in the future that governments can do that if they wish. […] Well, certainly we are in the cart for more tax relief when the budget can carry that, when the budget can afford that. We’ve made that really clear. Even in some of the budget documents we made it clear that one of the benefits of getting the medium-term fiscal position in much better condition is that it will provide room down the track for more tax relief.

The intention there is to give future governments the option to provide tax relief the usual way […] cutting rates and thresholds. Or cutting taxes specifically for workers via this new........

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