As we ring in a new financial year, a new fiscal measure will see every Australian taxpayer enjoy a tax cut of some degree.
But at the same time, a range of products and services just got more expensive – and it’s leaving already struggling families frustrated and concerned.
New mother Emma Robertson and her partner both work-full time to support themselves and their 15-month-old son Atlan.
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But, renting two rooms in Robertson’s parents’ house, she said the tax cuts will do “pretty much nothing at all” for her small family.
“The tax cuts come in but everything else goes up so it’s not justifiable,” Robertson said.
“Childcare [is] one of the biggest things that has gone up.
“We got an email saying our daily rate was increasing by $17 a day, which is quite a lot realistically.
“When you think about everything else that’s gone up, like car insurance, food prices, fuel, rent, rates, all of that type of stuff … this is not where I saw my life, unfortunately, but it is where we are.”
Robertson works 40 hours a week and her partner works 45-50 hours, yet she said it’s still “not enough to survive and live somewhat comfortably”.
“It’s a struggle. We do everything we can to cut where we can, just to survive, to put food on the table,” she said.
“At the moment we just can’t save and get on top of everything. It’s just too hard.”
She said the family would be at risk of homelessness if not for her parents.
“I’m thankful that I do have my parents, because if I didn’t have them and they didn’t have their house, we’d essentially be homeless.
“It’s disappointing, it hurts, it’s hard.
“You know, as a small family we do want our own privacy, our own space, but it’s something we just can’t achieve at the moment.”
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The 33-year-old implored the government to “step up” and said her family needs to see cost of living eases in order to keep their heads above water.
“We need that help from the government,” Robertson said.
“Every single day I wake up and I go what is going to happen this week? What is going to go up today?
“It’s horrible. I never pictured myself being in this situation, ever, but here I am, just scraping by.”
Finder Finance expert Taylor Blackburn said research showed one in eight Australians have moved back into shared housing because of the cost-of-living crisis.
“Forty-two per cent of Australians say they have less than $1000 in their savings account, so it’s harder to get ahead and it’s harder to stay ahead,” Blackburn said.
He said the tax cuts would provide relief, but whether it would be enough to offset other cost increases remained to be seen.
“For the average earner, we’re looking at, over the course of the year, $1100 [saved],” Blackburn said.
“But we’ve seen car insurance, in some cases going up 20 or 30 per cent, home insurance the same thing, health insurance goes up every year three or four per cent.
“It’s getting harder and harder to catch up.”