Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) 2017-18

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook for the 2017-18 financial year is available here.

The MYEFO takes account of all decisions made since the release of the last budget update which affect expenses and revenue and hence revises the budget aggregates.

Commentary here: Budget update shaves growth and wage forecasts but is brighter about the deficit

Announced measures include:

• From 1 July 2018: a 3-year waiting period (currently 2 years) for benefits including Family Tax Benefit, Paid Parental Leave and Carers Allowance for migrants. (Newly arrived residents who would have otherwise been eligible to receive PPL between 1 July 2018 and 31 December 2018 will be exempt). The current 2-year Assurance of Support requirement applying to family visas will also be increased to 3 years. See further: New waiting periods for migrants to access social security and family assistance payments
• HECS-HELP minimum repayment threshold with a 1% repayment rate from 1 July 2018 to be set at $45,000 (up from the previously proposed $42,000 announced in May 2017) and a maximum threshold of $131,989 with a 10% repayment rate.
• HELP lifetime limits: from 1 January 2019, a combined lifetime limit for all tuition fee assistance under HECS‑HELP, FEE‑HELP, VET FEE‑HELP and VET Student Loans of $104,440 for most students and $150,000 for students undertaking medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses
• Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS) thresholds will be aligned with the new HELP repayment thresholds.
• The proposal (first announced in the 2016 Myefo) for a $100 non-refundable tax offset for small businesses for expenditure on Standard Business Reporting enabled software has been abandoned

See also: Changes in average personal income tax rates: distributional impacts (Parliamentary Budget Office)

This page was last modified 2021-07-07