Data from the ATO shows fewer workers received the JobKeeper payment in October, compared to September, as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt said the temporary support from the Australian Government had played an important role in the nation’s recovery. 

“In the first phase of JobKeeper, 3.6 million workers and around 1 million businesses were supported, however by October, this reduced to 1.5 million employees and around 500,000 businesses had applications processed,” Mr Pitt said. 

“These preliminary figures show a much lower than anticipated take-up of JobKeeper, which is a substantial improvement.

“As well as the assistance provided through the JobKeeper payment, the fast-tracked tax relief for personal income tax has made its way into employees pay packets.

“Employers had until November 16, 2020 to implement the new tax tables and withholding amounts for workers.”

The stage 2 personal income tax cuts brought forward and backdated to 1 July 2020 have increased the top threshold of 19 percent income tax bracket from $37,000 to $45,000, and the top threshold of 32.5 percent income tax bracket from $90,000 to $120,000.

More than 7 million individuals are expected to receive tax relief of $2,000 or more for the 2020-21 income year compared with 2017-18 tax settings.   

Low- and middle-income taxpayers will receive relief of up to $2,745 for singles and $5,490 for dual income families.