The budget saw the education tax dumped and replaced with the School Kids Scheme, which will see local parents given a cash subsidy to offset the cost of educating a child.
LOCAL families and low income earners in Young are the big winners in this year’s Federal Budget released on Tuesday night by treasurer Wayne Swan.
The budget saw the education tax dumped and replaced with the School Kids Scheme, which will see local parents given a cash subsidy to offset the cost of educating a child.
Naomi Peters from the Young and District Community Hub said the centre deals with many families locally who struggle to meet the cost associated with educating a child.
“It is good because low income earners find it hard to clothe their kids and send them on school excursions or even purchase them new footwear,” Ms Peters said.
Under the new scheme, parents receiving family tax benefit Part A will receive $820 for each secondary student and $410 per primary child next month.
“I think this, (the School Kids Scheme) is preferable rather than claiming it back at tax time because people lead busy lives and miss things or forget to claim,” Ms Peters said.
The money will be deposited into the bank accounts of families from next month.
Ms Peters also welcomes the news of family payment increases by up to $600 per year from July 2013.
“It’s good news because we see people in here that are struggling to meet living costs for their kids,” she said.
That additional payment increase has been supplemented by the scrapping of the company tax and funding from the mining boom.
Students and job seekers on income support payments will also receive an additional $210 in supplementary payments each year.
The 2012 budget brings good news for Young Shire Council who are set to benefit with the Roads to Recovery scheme - which ensures the maintenance of local roads - to be extended a further five years until 2019.
Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) to local governments will be maintained with the government bringing forward the first two quarterly payments of the 2012-13 FAGs into 2011-12. This funding is vital in assisting councils to deliver their services, maintain local roads and upgrade local community services.
The early payment will help councils manage their cash flow and will be appreciated by those councils continuing to recover from natural disasters in recent years.
Full story in Friday, May 11, edition.