00:01My colleague economics reporter Tom Crowley has this afternoon confirmed that the cost
00:07of the coalition's plan to index tax brackets to inflation would cost around $35.3 billion
00:16in the first four years and that's more than some members of the coalition including opposition
00:21leader Angus Taylor himself have been using today.
00:24So to quickly recap, Angus Taylor last night delivered his budget in reply and a big part
00:29of this plan that he's labelled a plan to deliver a fairer and freer Australia is that tax brackets
00:36would be automatically indexed to inflation so it's a two stage plan that would initially
00:42only address the lower two tax brackets delivering the typical taxpayer cut of around $250 in
00:49the first year and that would rise to around $1,000 a year from the fourth year of the changes.
00:56Now there's been a lot of questions today asked Joe about how much the first four years
01:01of the plan would cost. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Jane Hume today said that it would
01:07be that $22.5 billion figure for the first four years. Angus Taylor said it would be around
01:13$20 billion for the first four years. And this afternoon Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg
01:20appeared on afternoon briefing where he was asked to put a figure on this plan.
01:25The numbers will be provided in more detail as we go on but I mean obviously the budget
01:29speech budget reply speech was given given last night and obviously we're at the start
01:34still of this period of announcing this reform and there'll be more information provided in
01:39due course.
01:41And Lexi what's the government's take on Angus Taylor's budget reply speech?
01:45Well Joe the Treasurer and the Prime Minister and other senior members of the Federal Government
01:50have been out and about today spruiking their own budget plan which includes an annual $250
01:56working Australian tax offset that would start flowing from mid-2028. And the Treasurer was
02:02asked to respond to Angus Taylor's budget and reply and he said that it was nothing but a
02:08bin fire of quote higher deficits, more debt, more inflation and more division.
02:14What Angus Taylor released last night was uncosted, it was unfunded, it was a recipe for much bigger
02:22deficits, much more debt and much more division as well. Angus Taylor is focused exclusively on
02:29staving off One Nation.
02:32Treasury Jim Chalmers there and as we know Angus Taylor has vowed to oppose Labor's big tax reforms.
02:39We do know that what has emerged really in the last week is that a huge economic fight is brewing
02:47between Labor and the coalition and of course in wake of the historic loss at the Farrah by-election
02:53over the weekend, the coalition is going to really have to try to prove itself to Australian voters and
03:00I do note that at the end of Angus Taylor's speech last night he vowed that the fight begins now.
03:06We hope the
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