Preference for spending priorities

Q. Recent Government commitments to provide a tax break for Australia’s top income earners will cost the country approximately $12B per year, whereas increasing the Newstart payment would cost an estimated $4B per year.

Given the above information, which of the following options would you prefer the Government prioritise its spending?

	Total	Gender		Age
		Male	Female	18-34	35-54	55+
Spend $12B a year to provide a tax cut for Australia’s top income earners	12%	16%	9%	15%	14%	8%
Spend $4B a year to increase the Newstart payment for those looking for a job	70%	68%	71%	64%	66%	77%
Unsure	18%	15%	20%	20%	20%	14%
Base (n)	1,102	543	559	348	374	380

• 70% of the population would prefer spending on increasing Newstart be made a priority, compared to 12% who think the Stage 3 tax cuts should be a priority.
• Participants aged over 55 were more likely to prefer the Government prioritise an increase to Newstart (77%) than 18-54 year olds (65%).

	Total	Federal Voting Intention
		Labor	Coalition	Greens	NET: Other
Spend $12B a year to provide a tax cut for Australia’s top income earners	12%	6%	19%	9%	14%
Spend $4B a year to increase the Newstart payment for those looking for a job	70%	82%	61%	81%	68%
Unsure	18%	11%	20%	10%	18%
Base (n)	1,102	320	387	107	159

• Labor voters were more likely than Coalition voters (82% versus 61%) to prefer the Government prioritise increasing Newstart over a tax cut for top income earners.

	Total	Income
		NET: Lower Income	NET: Mid-Income	NET: High Income
Spend $12B a year to provide a tax cut for Australia’s top income earners	12%	7%	15%	19%
Spend $4B a year to increase the Newstart payment for those looking for a job	70%	78%	71%	60%
Unsure	18%	15%	15%	20%
Base (n)	1,102	399	301	275

• Lower income earners were more likely to prioritise increasing Newstart (78%) than high income earners (60%) – high income earners were over twice as likely to prioritise a tax cut for top income earners (19%) than lower income earners (7%).