What's in the budget? Here are the major measures we know about so far

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is unveiling his fourth budget tonight, and it's all about the "cost of living".

The federal election is due in months, but households are struggling.

Petrol prices are hitting record highs, and groceries are becoming far more expensive.

The government is planning to use the budget to give immediate financial relief to households.

Here are the major policies that have already been flagged ahead of the Treasurer's budget speech tonight.

Petrol tax cut

Fuel has become so expensive it's hurting household budgets.

Every day, millions of Australians are driving past petrol stations with towering price signs, getting daily reminders of the rising cost of living.

It's clearly worrying the federal government.

So, the government plans to temporarily reduce the cost of fuel by cutting the tax on fuel for a while.

Currently, motorists pay 44.2 cents in tax for every litre of fuel they buy.

However, the government plans to use its budget tonight to cut that tax by up to 20 cents, and it could leave the tax cut in place for up to six months.

Then, the government will hope for two things.

It will hope petrol stations pass the tax cut on to motorists, and it will hope further increases in the global price of crude oil won't eat away at the tax cut too quickly.

The policy will be a costly: the federal government collects around $19 billion a year in tax on petrol and diesel sales.

One-off cash splash

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has strongly hinted the budget will include a one-off cash payment for millions of Australians.

He says people need help with the rising cost of living.

The cash payment could be worth somewhere between $250 and $400 for different individuals, according to reports.

There will be payments for pensioners and for workers.

$800 payments for aged care workers

The government has pledged to provide $210 million to support the aged care workforce to continue to care for older Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will pay cash bonuses of up to $800 to workers, made in two instalments of up to $400 each.

The bonuses will be paid to workers providing care and support in government-subsidised home care, and to residential aged care workers.

Workers employed on February 28, 2022, will receive a bonus payment of up to $400, with another instalment of up to $400 made to workers employed on April 28, 2022.

Expanding the home guarantee scheme

Soaring property prices have become a major issue.

So, the government will be expanding its Home Guarantee Scheme to help thousands of extra people get into the property market.

The scheme ensures that part of an eligible buyer's home loan is guaranteed by the government, which helps people to buy a home sooner with a smaller deposit.

Under the expanded scheme, the government will make available:

• 35,000 guarantees each year, up from the current 10,000, from July 1, 2022, under the First Home Guarantee, to support eligible first homebuyers to purchase a new or existing home with a deposit as low as five per cent
• 10,000 guarantees each year from October 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025, under a new Regional Home Guarantee, to support eligible homebuyers, including non-first home buyers and permanent residents, to purchase or construct a new home in regional areas, subject to the passage of enabling legislation
• 5,000 guarantees each year from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025, to expand the Family Home Guarantee with a specially-targeted single parent family housing scheme to help single parents with children to buy their first home, or to re-enter the housing market, with a deposit of as little as two per cent

The schemes can only be used on homes under a certain price guide outlined by the government for each state and territory.

NBN budget boost

The government will promise to deliver faster internet, or greater data limits, for up to one million homes.

It has pledged to invest a further $480 million to improve NBN infrastructure in regional, rural and remote areas.

It says NBN Co will chip in $270 million more from its own funds, bringing the total value of the upgrade to $750 million.

The government says the upgrade will extend the coverage range from towers, and allow higher speed services to everyone served by those towers.

The upgrade will see NBN offer new higher speed services to the fixed wireless network: 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) to all 750,000 premises able to access the new, expanded coverage footprint.

More support for apprentices

The government will provide $365.3 million to help an extra 35,000 apprentices and trainees get into a job.

It says enrolments for the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencement wage subsidy, which provides employers with 12 months of wage subsidy support, will be extended to the end of the 2021-22 financial year (June 30, 2022).

It says businesses that use that wage subsidy to pay apprentices will also be eligible for further wage subsidies for the second and third year of those apprenticeships.

Any employer who takes on an apprentice or trainee up until June 30, 2022, can gain access to:

• 50 per cent of the eligible Australian apprentice’s wages in the first year, capped at a maximum payment value of $7,000 per quarter per apprentice
• 10 per cent of the eligible Australian apprentice’s wages in the second year, capped at a maximum payment value of $1,500 per quarter per apprentice, and
• 5 per cent of the eligible Australian apprentice’s wages in the third year, capped at a maximum payment value of $750 per quarter per apprentice

The low and middle income tax offset to go?

There has been speculation that the government will have to extend the so-called low and middle income tax offset (LMITO) for another year.

However, this week the government suggested it intends to phase the LMITO out.

The tax offset amount is between $255 and $1,080, depending on your taxable income.

But the tax offset was introduced in 2019, and it has already been extended twice.

The government wants to end it, but it will effectively see the vast majority of taxpayers getting a tax increase.

To complicate the picture, the government's expensive stage-three tax cuts — due to kick-in 2024-25 and expected to cost almost $100 billion in lost revenue between then and the end of the decade — overwhelmingly benefit higher-income earners.

In recent weeks, the Australia Institute analysed the distribution of the stage-three tax cuts, by occupation, if the LMITO was not extended to 2024-25.

It found a bank chief executive could expect a tax cut of $9,075, while a typical branch worker would end up paying an additional $878 to the government, compared to this financial year.

A surgeon would see the same tax cut as the chief executive, but registered nurses would pay $399 more to the government.

Those stage-three tax cuts will be permanent.