Are you a winner or a loser in this budget?

There’s help on the way for tax payers and first home buyers – while property investors and trust fund users won’t be as thrilled.

Updated May 12, 2026 — 7:51pm,first published 7:40pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

While some budgets seek to play it safe and minimise offence, the government is taking risks this year, emboldened by the enormous majority it scored at last year’s federal election.

In Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ words, it is “the most important and ambitious budget in decades”. With intergenerational equity a key buzzword, the budget proudly tries to redistribute benefits away from the older and the wealthier to younger and less well-off Australians.

There are also difficult decisions to cut spending and raise revenue to pay for new tax cuts, defence equipment and policies to boost housing supply.

A new working Australians tax offset, or WATO, will provide an extra tax cut of up to $250 a year, on top of tax cuts announced in the past two budgets. This latest tax cut, which increases the tax-free threshold to $19,985, will be permanent and benefit more than 13 million workers. On top of this, 6.2 million workers will be able to use a $1000 instant tax deduction, producing an average annual saving of $205.

After years of growing frustration at being locked out of the property market, hopeful entrants will receive a hand-up with a major overhaul of investor tax rules. The government says its changes to reduce the capital gains tax discount and scrap negative gearing for purchases of existing properties will tilt the market towards first home owners. The government estimates that........

© Brisbane Times