With the major parties releasing their official platforms just days before the April 28 federal election, we can only now fully dig into the costed plans. There are similarities, but there are still fundamental differences in fiscal priorities.
Better late than never. We normally publish our pre-election economic analysis weeks earlier in federal campaigns. But with the major parties releasing their official platforms in this final week, we can only now fully dig into the costed plans, just days before the vote on April 28. Prior to receiving the meaty details, it was widely assumed that federal finances were in a tough spot, given:
A soft starting point
The dark trade cloud looming over the economic outlook
New spending commitments related to defence and border security
The variety of (sometimes expensive) promises made by all parties during the campaign.
Plus, the two leading parties have both scrapped the hike in the capital gains tax inclusion rate, at a cost of $3 billion per year on average over the next four years. Below, we focus on what the two leading party platforms would imply for government finances and the economy (with details of the four largest parties’ platforms in the appendix).