Family Tax Benefit and other Family Payments

From 1 July 2009, FTB part A payment rates will be indexed by the Consumer Price Index consistent with other family payments such as FTB part B and the Baby Bonus. This will replace the current arrangement whereby maximum rates of FTB part A for children under the age of 16 are benchmarked to a proportion of the combined couple rate of pension payments, or adjusted by the Consumer Price Index, whichever is higher.

The following higher income thresholds (which would ordinarily be indexed by the Consumer Price Index) for family payments will remain fixed until July 2012:

• • the FTB part B primary earner income threshold, which will remain at $150,000;
• • the income threshold for receiving the dependency tax offsets, which will remain at $150,000;
• • the Baby Bonus eligibility threshold, which will remain at $75,000 of family income in the six months following the birth or adoption of a child (equivalent to $150,000 a year) and
• • the higher income-free area of FTB part A, which will remain at $94,316 of family income (plus $3,796 for each child after the first).