Politicians strike pensioners deal for tax changes

Pensioners and small business owners are the lucky ones when it comes to the latest news this afternoon out of the Federal Government.

As part of a deal to get changes to business tax cuts the government has approved a one-off energy transition payment for recipients of the aged, disability and parenting pensions.

The payment of $75 for singles and $125 for couples comes at a total cost to the budget of about $250 million;

The big news for companies with up to $50 million in annual turnover is they will get a tax cut.

The federal government sealed the agreement this afternoon with Senate crossbenchers with Nick Xenophon and Pauline Hanson on board.

Senator Xenophon told The Australian Financial Review he had done the best he could in the circumstances and they had made significant advances.

The result comes after days of negotiation to ensure at least 800,000 companies could get the cut in the company rate from 30 to 25 cents in the dollar.

Other conditions agreed to were a promise to implement rule changes to the National Electricity Market by July 1, 2018, that will improve energy affordability and security and accelerated consideration of a gas pipeline from the Northern Territory to SA.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann thanked the crossbench Senators for allowing the government to gain as much as possible of the enterprise tax plan.

While the original reform offered to cut the rate from 30 to 25 cents in the dollar for all companies by 2026, the Senate rejected the help for big companies in favour of legislating the cut for smaller ones only.

Will this payment help those who need it the most?