Jim Chalmers has dropped a huge hint this week that income tax cuts are back on his political agenda in the lead up to the next election.

The Treasurer has offered families struggling with cost-of-living pressures some hope that more help may be on the cards as he spruiked the impact of this year’s tax cut.

But his sales pitch on the impact of the most recent tax cuts comes with a slightly depressing postscript: the estimated average tax saving was just $58 over the quarter.

That works out at a 64 cents a day tax cut. Cue champagne.

Nearly 13 million Australians have benefited by $700 million in tax cuts in the first quarter of 2026-27 financial year according to new data.

“Our tax reforms are all about providing tax cuts to workers, helping more first homebuyers into homes and helping younger Australians to get ahead,’’ the Treasurer said.

“People are under pressure which is why we’ve delivered ongoing cost of living relief, including cutting taxes five times in three ways.”

The Government’s legislated tax cuts on 1 July 2026 lowered the first income tax rate from 16 cents to 15 cents for all taxpayers, with over 14 million taxpayers to benefit.

This is in addition to the instant $1000 deduction available to all tax payers for the 2026-27 income year, and the first round of tax cuts that took effect in 2024.

But it’s what comes next that voters may be more interested to hear, with the Treasurer telling voters to watch this space.

“We’ve improved the budget position which has created more room for tax cuts into the future,’’ he said.

“We’re backing workers and our opponents are attacking them.

“The Liberals and Nationals voted against these tax cuts. If they had their way, workers would be paying higher taxes and earning much less.

The figures are based on the ATO’s Single Touch Payroll data covering employees’ payroll information for the three months to 30 September.

Meanwhile, the Coalition has offered a curtain raiser of its own in recent weeks, confirming they also want to give voters more access to their own money by allowing more workers to raid their own superannuation.

The Liberal Party is working on several options to allow workers to access super early to buy a family home to reduce the number of retirees who are renters.

The three options under consideration include using super as collateral to get a bigger loan, using it as an offset on your mortgage to reduce interest or cashing it out to enter the housing market.

“Renting is a good choice for some Australians, but I don’t want it to become a mandatory design feature of our retirement system,’’’ Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg said.

“I am concerned the growing trend of retired renters will change the economic and social character of the nation.”