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BABY BONUS WILL BE CUT FROM $5000 TO $3000 WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR SECOND KID. FROM NEWS.COM.AU THE $5000 baby bonus will be slashed for families planning a second child to help pay for a collapse in government revenue and mining tax and a $1 billion blowout in asylum seeker costs. In another attack on middle class Australia, private health insurance costs will also rise, with $1.1 billion in further cuts to the government rebate to help balance the books. Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday downgraded next year's promised surplus from $1.5 billion to a brittle $1.1 billion in the face of a $22 billion hit to revenue from a faltering global economy. But in cuts the government admitted would not be popular, the Treasurer has hacked into the baby bonus to help keep the budget in the black beyond next year - slashing it from $5000 to $3000 for second and subsequent births as of July 1, 2013. This will take $461 million from the national family wallet but fix a welfare scheme the Treasurer claimed was "unsustainable''. Superannuation accounts holding less than $2000, and inactive for more than 12 months, will also be raided by the tax department, delivering a further $738 million to government coffers. A further $277 million in apprenticeship training schemes will be scrapped. Companies will be forced to pay their tax monthly instead of quarterly - moving them to the same PAYG system applying to the average worker - delivering the government $8.3 billion over four years, with $5 billion to be delivered next year as it heads towards an election. A further $500 million in cuts will also be made to university research over the next four years while a freeze in general government grants this year will save another $324 million. The government will also spend $254 million less this year - or $1.5 billion over four years - on health reform funding following a recalculation of the number of people expected to use hospitals and lower costs of medical equipment due to the high Australian dollar. Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/cost-of-living/baby-bonus-plugs-swans-leaky-vow/story-fnagkbpv-1226501035956#ixzz2A4Os21Tf |
