$4,000 back in your pocket

The tax-free threshold has sat at $18,200 since 2012. Rent, groceries, power and insurance have not.

What has actually happened

When the threshold was set, it was a reasonable floor. Fourteen years of inflation later, it is not. Every year the threshold stays still, more of a low-income wage gets taxed — without a single politician having to vote for a tax rise. It happens quietly, automatically, to the people who can least afford it.

And all major parties have left it there.

What People First would do

Lift the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $45,000.

For a low or middle-income earner that is around $4,000 a year back — not a rebate you apply for, not a payment that gets announced at a press conference. Just money that stays in your pay.

We would also let parents of children under 16 split their income, so a family earning the same amount pays the same tax whether that income comes from one earner or two. Together that means a family can earn up to $90,000 tax free.

Why it matters more than another payment

Every cost-of-living announcement in the last five years has been a rebate, a voucher or a one-off. They are complicated, they run out, and they cost more to administer than they deliver.

Not taxing the first $45,000 someone earns is simpler, permanent, and it respects people enough to trust they can manage their own money.

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