Ilene Jones’s wishlist for a tax cut is simple – more money to spend on school fees, a laptop for her son and groceries.
“It’s just the basics. It’s not extravagant,” she says.
“It’s a no-brainer that we get a tax cut, not the people who are already high-income earners.”
The 49-year-old retail worker and mother from Mount Eliza, who falls in the less than $150,000 a year income bracket, is set to reap a boosted tax cut under the Albanese government’s stage-three tax cuts overhaul alongside more than 13 million Australians.
The changes are designed to shift more of the benefit of tax cuts to low- and middle-income earners from those on higher wages, amid cost-of-living pressures.
Jones’s views were mirrored by a majority of the dozen voters in the Victorian electorate of Dunkley that Guardian Australia spoke to on Thursday, less than six weeks from a crucial federal byelection that will become the first test of the support in the community for Labor’s changes to the Morrison government scheme.
Voters across the electorate in Melbourne’s south-east, which includes Frankston, Seaford and Mount Eliza, are feeling the cost-of-living bite and residents expressed relief that tax respite could be on the way.
The small business owner and mother Holly Evans, 36, from Seaford is also set to reap an increased tax cut under the changes.
“A lot of my friends also fit into this category [earning under $150,000] and a lot of us will see it as a relief because we’re hit the hardest with the cost-of-living increases,” she said.
“For a long time, middle-income earners really haven’t earned a lot so it’s a logical solution. It helps balance out the power.
“Anything helps at the moment.”
Dunkley has a median weekly household income of $1,718 – lower than the national average of $1,746, according to the latest census data from 2021 – and a median monthly mortgage repayment of $1,898 – higher than the Australian average of $1,863, according to the 2021 census.
The artist and teacher Nic Kirkman, 49, is set to receive an increased tax cut and said it would help her invest in her business.
“Hopefully I can get in a tax bracket where you can charge me more,” she said.
Matthew Aris, 52, from Frankston said he and his partner, who both earn more than $150,000, would be about $5,000 worse off under the proposed changes.
“It won’t have a huge impact. We’re high-income earners,” he said.
But Aris, a Labor voter, said he was disappointed the Albanese government had backtracked on a pledge taken to the last election.
Anthony Albanese went to the 2022 federal election promising to keep the former Coalition government’s legislated stage-three tax cuts unchanged.
“People who were promised money aren’t getting money,” he said.
“When you don’t keep promises you lose trust.”
Aris said it was a “cross against the Albanese government” but said he would still vote Labor at the byelection.
The opposition has vowed to fight the policy change, labelling it a broken promise. Peter Dutton on Thursday demanded Albanese call an election to win a fresh mandate for the revamped income tax plan, saying the changes were significant.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Albanese said he was being “upfront” with Australians because it was responsible to change policy when the economic landscape had changed.
“When lower- and middle-income earners are saying that they are under financial pressure … as prime minister, I have a responsibility to act and that is what we are doing,” he said.
Among the voters in Dunkley who opposed the changes was retiree Jeanette, 71, from Frankston.
She said despite voting Labor since the Hawke era, she would not back the party at the byelection, citing the stage-three tax cuts as among her reasons, although she was not personally affected.
“A promise he’s gone back on is the core point people will be upset more. If you can’t stick to one promise, you won’t stick to any,” she said.
The overhaul of the stage-three tax cuts means those earning less than $150,000 will benefit from the changes, including workers earning less than $45,000 who were slated to miss out altogether under the Morrison government’s stage-three plan. Meanwhile, people earning more than $150,000 will receive a smaller tax cut.
The byelection on 2 March was called after the death of the Labor MP Peta Murphy in December.
Labor has selected the former teacher and community leader Jodie Belyea as its candidate, while the Liberals have chosen the Frankston mayor turned candidate Nathan Conroy.
Labor currently holds Dunkley on a margin of 6.27%.
