Australian Senate passes $110 billion tax cuts over decade
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's Parliament has narrowly delivered the reelected government's promise to provide 158 billion Australian dollars ($110 billion) in personal income tax cuts over a decade to boost a flagging economy.
The Senate vote on Thursday is an important victory for the government that was elected for a third three-year term in May 18 elections after a campaign that focused on tax cuts.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his conservative coalition's election victory gave him a mandate to pass the tax cuts, which the center-left Labor Party opposition rejected as too generous to the wealthy.
The government hopes that the cuts for more than 10 million of Australia's 25 million people will stimulate a slowing economy that risks dipping into recession for the first time in 28 years.