How the changes on July 1 could affect your wallet

A tweak to the lowest taxation rate will leave most workers slightly better off. (ABC News: Sharon Gordon) Link copiedShareShare articleToday marks the beginning of a new financial year, with a host of new rules coming into effect. Tap the boxes below to find out how these changes could impact you. The federal government is cutting the tax rate on income between $18,201 and $45,000 from 16 per cent to 15 per cent from today. The tax brackets will remain the same, but the rates will now look like this: The above rates do not include the Medicare levy of 2 per cent. This will benefit everyone earning more than $18,201, not just people in the tax bracket between $18,201 and $45,000. That's because people's entire income isn't taxed at the same rate. The first $18,200 they earn isn't taxed at all. Their earnings between $18,201 and $45,000 will be taxed at the new rate of 15 cents for each dollar. And earnings between $45,000 and $135,000 will be taxed at the existing rate of 30 cents for each dollar and so on. It gets a bit more complicated when the Medicare levy and the Medicare levy surcharge are applied, but that's the gist of it. This change, which was announced in last year's federal budget, will save everyone who earns $45,000 or more $268 on tax per year. It works out to be an extra $5 back in your pocket each week. From today, workers on the national minimum wage will get a 5.97 per cent pay rise, while minimum award workers will get a 4.75 per cent increase. These changes will apply to any shifts worked from today, and should be automatically reflected in workers' pay cheques that cover this period. The pay rises came off the back of Fair Work Australia's wage review, something it does every year. The national minimum wage applies to workers who aren't covered by an award or enterprise agreement. But most employees are covered by an award, Fair Work Australia says. An award is a legal document that tells employers the lowest rate they can pay workers and what conditions they have to provide staff in a certain industry or occupation. For example, a person employed as a hairdresser might be covered by the Hair and Beauty Award, while someone who works at a clothing shop could be covered by the General Retail Industry Award. That's up from $948 per week or $24.95 per hour, and works out to be an increase of $56.90 per week. It gets a bit more complicated for individual award wages, so if you want to check how much extra you could be paid, check out Fair Work Australia's pay calculator. Fair Work Australia sets the pay rates for minimum wage and minimum awards, but the specific award level workers are being paid under is between staff and their employers. Workers may have to check their pay slip or employment contract to see what level they're currently on. Employers will now have to pay their workers' superannuation at the same time as their wages so that super contributions reach their nominated funds within seven business days. Before now, employers deducted super contributions from workers' pay cheques each pay cycle, but only had to pay it into their nominated funds every three months. The change, which was announced back in 2023, was touted by the federal government as a way to boost retirement incomes and ensure employers were keeping up with their super requirements. Some employers may already be paying super on the same day as they pay their staff, so those workplaces will be unaffected by this change. Eligible families with a child born or adopted from today will get an extra 10 days of paid parental leave. It used to be 24 weeks, but it's now 26 weeks or 130 days. Single parents will be able to take all their parental leave pay days; however, a certain number of days have to be reserved for the other partner in coupled parents. This period used to be 15 days, but now 20 days will be reserved for the other partner. Because the payment is tied to the national minimum wage, that will also increase from today. So the payment will increase by 5.97 per cent to $1,004.90 per five-day week. These changes were announced in 2022 and legislated in 2023. Back in March, the federal government announced it was halving the fuel excise to combat the rising cost of petrol caused by the war in the Middle East's disruption to the oil market. The fuel excise is a sales tax on petrol and diesel which is paid by fuel importers and retailers, who pass it on to customers. The standard fuel excise is 52.6 cents per litre, so halving it knocked 32 cents off each litre of petrol. At the time, the government said this would last three months, with a deadline of June 30. But with uncertainty around the conflict in the Middle East continuing while the deadline loomed, the government extended the discount by another month at a reduced rate. The new reduced rate of 16.4 cents off per litre applies from today until August 2. This is expected to cost about an extra $12 per tank on a sta

How the changes on July 1 could affect your wallet

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How the changes on July 1 could affect your wallet

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