Following Treasurer Scott Morrison’s comments about the upcoming federal budget on Sunday morning, The Mercury hit the streets to find out what readers thought.
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In an interview with the Today show, Mr Morrison was asked to comment on a leak that the budget will include tax cuts for those earning $80,000 and above.
While Mr Morrison would not speculate about what is included in the budget, he did say a path needed to be cleared for the “people out there earning average wages.”
Six out of the seven people The Mercury spoke to on Monday said they did not consider $80,000 to be an average salary.
Ken Schofield of Woodberry said an average wage was “probably less” than $80,000.
“It’s always been unfair, politicians always get more and we just get less,” Mr Schofield said.
Shai Parker of Kurri said $80,000 was “too high” to be an average wage.
“We don’t get anywhere near that, it would be good to have $80,000 a year,” Mr Parker said.
Maitland Business Chamber president Craig McGregor said he believes $80,000 is “out of step of the Hunter mark.”
He said while there would be people in the area who earn over $80,000 there would be a high number of people earning below that.
A survey conducted by Forsythes Recruitment said that the average Hunter Valley salary in 2012 was $72,334, which Forsythes recruitment director Chris Cork said at the time was no surprise due to the mining sector.
Mr McGregor said the mining boom did bring wages up, but that they would have gone back down since the mining industry downturn.
The 2016-17 federal budget is set to be announced at 7.30pm on Tuesday.