As Jim Chalmers prepares to hand down his fifth budget, the government faces accusations it is coming after "mum and dad" investors as family trusts join capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing on the list of possible targets for change.
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ruled out negative gearing changes ahead of the 2025 federal election, the treasurer said intergenerational pressures would be a focus of the budget.
"The best way to build trust is to make the right decisions for the right reasons, there are genuine intergenerational concerns and pressures," Dr Chalmers told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"This budget is not about and never will be about setting some Australians against other Australians, it's about recognising some of these legitimate intergenerational concerns, which, in my experience, these concerns are often shared by older Australians."
Senior Labor figures have done little to dampen expectations the budget will deliver major changes to the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing for investment properties.
Asked on Sunday if the public would support changes Labor had not taken to the 2025 election, Mr Albanese said voters would make their own decisions about his government's record.
The budget is being finalised later than normal due to volatility in the Middle East affecting economies around the world.
While the treasurer said there would be a range of contingencies for further cost-of-living relief, a decision on whether to extend the fuel excise tax cut beyond the end of June would not be in the budget.
The excise cut wiped 26 cents off a litre of fuel at the bowser and was unveiled as a three-month measure.
"We've made it really clear that it's a temporary thing," Dr Chalmers said.
"If we get closer towards the end of that three-month period ... obviously we've got a range of contingencies."
The treasurer also said the budget would have net savings for the second year in a row.
Dr Chalmers said there would be more dollars in savings than revenue upgrades or tax reforms in the fiscal blueprint.
"Savings and spending restraint is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the very responsible budget," he said.
"So much of the heavy lifting here is being done by savings and re-prioritisations to make room for those pressures."
Some of those savings have already been flagged ahead of the budget, with Labor announcing at least 160,000 people were expected to be removed from the NDIS by 2030 as the government curbs growth in spending on the scheme.
The move will do the heavy lifting in budget repair, providing more than $35 billion in forecast savings, although states have sounded the alarm about the financial burden of people with disabilities being shifted onto their health and education systems.
A further $3 billion will be saved by removing the age-based loading for the private health insurance rebate, also announced in April.
In a speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Melbourne on Monday, shadow treasurer Tim Wilson will paint the expected changes as a "tax agenda assault on family".
"Their capital gains tax applies to everyday Australians, mums and dads, but probably won't to industry super funds nor foreign investors in renewable energy," he will tell the business group.
"Labor is building a class of Australians dependent on them being in office. This government is not about a better Australia; it is about securing power."
The government will suspend the commercial broadcasting tax for a further two years as part of the budget, which it estimated would save the industry $111 million through to June 2028.
The move follows announced restrictions on gambling advertising, which are expected to hit many media companies' bottom lines.
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