How Does the Carbon Tax Affect Me?
The Federal Government to offset the carbon tax over the past month has provided families with bonuses under the household assistance package.
This meant that families currently receive family tax benefit a & b received a one off bonus of $110 & $69 per child respectively. For families who receive family tax benefits annually, they will receive the bonus in their next tax return.
In addition to families, pensioners also recently received a bonus of $250(singles) and $380 (couples). It is really important that families put aside this money (bonus) for future rising costs of living. The federal government says average weekly household expenditure will go up by around $9.90, therefore families must be take as many steps as they can to reduce the impact to their home, \in particular ensuring they perform an energy audit around their home. This is because the biggest impact to the family budget will be higher energy bills, $3.30 per week on the average electricity bill and $1.50 per week on the average gas bill.
There is no doubt that cost as a result to the carbon tax could top $500 a year for families.
Many businesses will not absorb the cost therefore it will be the consumer who will end up suffering from the increased price for goods and services. In addition to the carbon tax, families will also be impacted by energy retailers who are again increasing their prices which reduces the benefit of the bonus handed down by the federal government, so families will need to absorb the difference from the family budget.
Effective July 1, Australian¹s will receive further relief when tax rates reduce, big winners are low income earners in which no tax is payable for anyone who earns less than $18,000, this will move from $6,000.
Kris Bondin is the Managing Director of Bills to Pay. As a qualified CPA accountant, Kris wanted to make a positive change to people’s lives when it came to their finances.
Bills to Pay was established to help both individuals and families carefully manage their money with the ultimate goal of helping people get to a healthier financial position.
