New spending measures to help struggling households have been shunned in favour of fixing the budget bottom line as Treasurer Jim Chalmers looks to bank soaring government tax collections instead. The mid-year budget update, to be released on Wednesday, is expected to show 92 per cent of revenue upgrades over the forward estimates will go towards paying down debt, rather than towards additional spending. But the government’s decision to fund a 15 per cent wage increase for 250,000 aged care workers at a cost of $11.3bn won’t be included in measures of government spending, meaning the saving of upgraded revenue will ultimately be…
