The federal budget is forecasting a near $4 billion surplus for this financial year and smaller deficits over the forward estimates.
Most of the increased revenue will be banked instead of answering calls for boosts to welfare payments.The federal budget is predicted to dip into the black this financial year, which if it eventuates, will be the first time a surplus is recorded in 15 years.
Just over 80 per cent of the extra revenue will go towards paying down the national debt, bringing the total surplus revenue banked over two budgets to 87 per cent. But Dr Chalmers says the budget will still help those doing it tough with $14.6 billion of cost-of-living relief, including a lift in single-parent support.
"I know first-hand what it's like to grow up with a single mum doing it tough and we want to make sure that the children of single-parent families have the best opportunities in life," he told reporters. Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the only way to provide genuine relief for struggling families was for the government to rein in its spending and tackle inflation, which was sitting at seven per cent.
"If the government had the courage to make the big corporations and the billionaires pay their fair share of tax, then all single parents could be getting the support that they need," he said.
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