Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison have failed the test to stand-up for low and middle income earners at MYEFO and instead the focus today is on the Turnbull Cabinet talking about its own jobs.

It keeps up the theme for the Liberal Party in office - backing big business and tax cuts for high income earners, and having low and middle income earners pick up the bill for budget repair.

On page one of the  MYEFO document it confirms that the Government will proceed with its $44 billion in income tax hikes for seven million low and middle income earners.

In the lead-up to MYEFO we heard a lot of bluff and bluster of possible future income tax cuts.

And at the first opportunity with this Budget update, what has the Turnbull Government done to ease pressure for low and middle income earners? Absolutely nothing.

Instead, Scott Morrison has confirmed in the MYEFO that people earning as much as $21,000 will pay more in income tax.

Families that are already under pressure head into Christmas facing tax hikes.

MYEFO shows how much pressure households are under – economic growth has actually been revised down this year almost entirely due to weaker spending by households.

A Shorten Government will oppose this income tax hike for Australians earning up to $87,000. Labor has put forward a fairer alternative which shields low and middle income earners from the tax increase while raising more than the Government over the medium-term.

The mid-year update also confirms the Liberals are still presiding over deficit blowouts and record debt.

It beggars belief that the Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, and Mathias Cormann expect a pat on the back for a Budget that remains in tatters on their watch.

Despite the expected and minor improvements in the Budget position, MYEFO shows that:

• The $23.6 billion deficit remains eight times larger than the $2.8 billion deficit in the Liberals’ first horror Budget in 2014;
• Net debt has blown out by $80 billion to $343 billion since 2014;
• Economic growth is actually down on the back of families struggling to pay their bills and weaker household consumption; and;
• The Liberals’ return to surplus continues to rely on the $44 billion tax hike for middle Australia delivered in this year’s budget.

The fact that Turnbull, Morrison and Cormann expect a round of applause for what remains a dismal set of numbers reinforces yet again just how out of touch they really are.

Any minor improvements in today’s figures have come about by good luck rather than good policy.  

In fact, the Government’s decisions have trashed their own fiscal strategy and made the deficits worse, not better, with explicit government commitments dragging budget deficits down by $1.9 billion across the forward estimates.

The continued pickup in global economic conditions is welcome, but highlights the Liberals are completely out of excuses when it comes to dragging the chain on Budget repair.

If the Liberals genuinely cared about improving the Budget, they wouldn’t be handing out a $65 billion tax cut to multinationals and the four big banks and a $16,400 tax cut for millionaires when the country can least afford it.

Unaffordable tax cuts for corporate Australia that are effectively paid for by middle Australia.

If the Liberals actually wanted to repair the Budget in a fair way, they’d adopt Labor’s sensible reforms to negative gearing, capital gains tax, and trusts.

Today’s MYEFO confirms yet again that the Turnbull Government is all about showering largesse on the top end of town at the expense of people who work and struggle.