Ending ALP waste will finance tax cuts Many Australians are doing it tough: Joe Hockey. The Coalition has hit back at Labor claims that families would pay higher income tax and lose payments worth thousands of dollars a year under an Abbott government, saying the "reality is the opposite" and that it would also fund tax cuts. On Monday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan revealed government analysis that suggests western Sydney families would be up to $2300 worse off a year, assuming the opposition cuts the Schoolkids Bonus, abolishes carbon tax assistance payments and lowers the tax-free threshold. Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey dismissed the analysis, which was based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Mr Hockey argued that families would be better off under the Coalition because it would end "Labor's waste" and scrap the carbon tax. "The Coalition will also fund a tax cut without the carbon tax because we understand that many Australians are doing it tough," he said. Mr Hockey also argued that the government had "done nothing like" triple the tax-free threshold, which Labor increased from $6000 to $18,200. "The effective tax-free threshold for 2011-12 was $16,000 due to the impact of the low income tax offset [LITO]," he said. When you combine changes to the LITO with the other changes being made as part of the compensation package for the carbon tax, much of the benefit ... is clawed back. In an interview from Rooty Hill, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the Coalition would not necessarily remove tax breaks.