The recent release of the 2013-2014 Federal Budget on Tuesday night has left a lot of Australians concerned about the future of our country in social, economic and political arenas. Although the Federal government revenue has continued to grow year on year overall, Wayne Swan confirmed that the $1.5 billion surplus forecast in the 2012-13 Budget actually eventuated as a $19.4 billion deficit.

To state the obvious, this is not a good result. The 13-14 Budget will not be popular, and could cost the Government some votes in the upcoming election; but many pundits are suggesting Swan has delivered some painful but necessary budget medicine in the form of strong savings measures to bring the government back to surplus by 2015-16.

Some highlights that may affect you:

· Pension earnings over $100,000 to be taxed at 15%
· Superannuation Concessional Contributions cap increasing to $35,000 for older Australians
· Increases to Superannuation Excess Contributions tax if you earn over $300,000
· Baby Bonus abolished from March 2014 and replaced with lesser payments
· Work-related self education expenses to be capped at $2,000 per year
· Reduction in the time allowed to claim Family Tax benefits
· Medicare levy to increase to 2% from July 2014
· Postponement of higher income thresholds for Family Tax Benefits until 1^st July 2017
· The Net Medical Expenses offset will be phased out (effective immediately for some taxpayers).

For those of you interested in reading a comprehensive report on the 2013-14 Budget release, we recommend this report prepared by the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Thomson Reuters. There are no articles about Angelina Jolie’s double masectomy in there though. You’ll have to read the Courier Mail to get that.

Click here to download the Thomson Reuters 2013-14 Federal Budget Report.