Almost every Australian would get $1000 a year under $22 billion tax shake-up

The Greens are set to propose a tax shakeup that would save every working Australian about $1000 a year, while demanding tens of billions of dollars more from the resources sector.

In his first address to the National Press Club, new leader David Shoebridge will announce a $22 billion costed policy, paid for by clawing back an extra $45 billion from “the 1 per cent and big corporations”.

The address on Wednesday will come amid a tumultuous start in the role, which has been rocked by allegations WA Senator Jordon Steele-John made inappropriate comments toward women. 

Shoebridge’s plan would raise the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $26,000 from July next year, resulting in a tax cut of just shy of $1100 for every Australian earning more than $45,000 and about $900 for those in the tax bracket below.

The Parliamentary Budget Office costed it at about $22 billion a year or $65.1 billion over the forward estimates.

It would come alongside a new income support payment for anyone on the age pension, JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and several other benefits, giving them an extra $42 a fortnight or $1092 a year.

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“Here’s how we turn the tide. We cut the tax on work, and we raise the tax on the excessive wealth of the 1 per cent and big corporations,” Shoebridge will say, according to excerpts from his speech. 

“So today, I’m announcing the first thing we’ll do: put more money back in your pocket.”

The proposal would pay for the tax cuts and welfare boost by taxing gas exports an extra $17 billion a year and the mining sector an extra $28 billion through a resource rent tax.

“When the price of our resources goes up, the Australian people should get their fair share, after all the public owns the resources in the first place,” Shoebridge will say. 

“Right now, those windfall profits get scooped up by the ultra-wealthy.”

Government spending has increasingly come into the firing line as the Reserve Bank of Australia hikes interest rates for millions of mortgage holders in an attempt to to get inflation under control. 

“Government spending is definitely part of the picture,” Reserve Bank Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter told 60 Minutes on Sunday.

"But what I would also say is that we're an independent central bank. We're unelected. It's really not our place to tell the country, politicians, individuals, anyone, what governments should or shouldn't spend money on, how much they should or shouldn't be spending.

"That's a conversation the country should have, and we all get to have our say at the ballot box effectively, when elections roll around."

Shoebridge will argue the tax cuts will only add to inflation if nothing is done about “corporate profiteering", claiming he will “take the heat out of the economy by trimming those corporate profits and sharing them with everyone”.

“The 1 per cent and their spinners want you to ignore another key driver of inflation: the surge in corporate profits flooding through their part of the economy, from corporations that don’t pay their fair share of tax,” he will say.

“It’s not being spent on food, big chunks are going on the luxury renovations, the yachts, planes and high-end entertainment that the 1 per cent indulge in.”

The Greens point to a proposal by left-wing thinktank Prosper Australia Research Institute to back their increased taxes on gas and mining.

The proposal highlights the much lower tax the country collects on petroleum products (14 per cent) compared to Norway (40 per cent) and Alaska (42 per cent).

It also argues that Queensland’s 2022 coal royalty reforms, which brought the public-capture ratio of profits up to about 41 per cent, has not hurt investment there. 

The resources sector has pushed back hard on any attempts to increase royalties on what’s dug up and sent overseas.

It argues any move by the government to take more tax could hurt investment and reduce confidence for current and future projects.

Labor has pushed back on growing calls to significantly increase tax on gas exports, arguing that – due to the fuel crisis stemming from the war in Iran – now is not the time to potentially irritate other countries who are buying Australian gas and selling us their oil and fuel products.