Budget 2026 brings a small tax handout to workers and a crackdown on tax breaks and trusts

By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

All working Australians will receive a permanent $250 “tax offset” from next year in Treasurer Jim Chalmers fifth budget, which also cracks down on tax breaks for housing investors and trusts.

The tax offset in the budget will cost nearly $6.4 billion over the forward estimates.

Delivering the budget on Tuesday night Chalmers told parliament: “This [package] will help rebalance a system which is more generous to assets than it is to labour”.

As was widely predicted, the budget will limit negative gearing for housing to new builds from July next year.

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