Joe Hockey's budget will hurt your hip pocket

If you think you’re having trouble coping with the rising cost of living now, just wait until you see what the politicians have in store for you over the next three years. In all likelihood, you’ll be losing a significantly higher proportion of your pay in income tax, though people on low incomes will be hit a lot harder than those on high incomes.

This will happen because an increase in the overall tax we pay is inevitable, but it suits both sides of politics to avoid the obvious, up-front increase that would come from raising the rate of the goods and services tax (or from extending the tax to spending on fresh food, education and healthcare) and rely on what Malcolm Fraser called ‘‘the hidden tax of inflation’’ – otherwise known as bracket creep...

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/joe-hockeys-budget-will-hurt-your-hip-pocket-20140401-zqp7v.html