It’s not exactly good news as in things will only get better from here on in, but it is pleasing to see the Treasurer finally figuring out what has to be done to make things work. The headline says it all: Morrison to cut company taxes; income taxes to wait years. I wonder how hard he had to fight our good news Prime Minister to get this policy up.

Salary earners will have to wait some years for an income tax cut after Treasurer Scott Morrison confirmed on Thursday that company tax cuts will be his priority in the federal budget.

After indicating on Tuesday that the government had ditched plans for the income tax cuts it has been pledging for several months, Mr Morrison told Parliament the best way to fund income tax cuts was through economic growth. And the best way to drive economic growth was by reducing the 30 per cent company tax rate.

“We understand the burdens faced by people who are paying higher and higher rates of income tax. We understand that and we understand the best way to deal with that … [is to] grow the economy so you can grow revenues to support those changes,” he said.

“That’s the way you do it and that’s what this government is seeking to do. We’ll focus our changes on things that will drive investment, as we’ve considered many tax measures over the course of the past six months.”

Mr Morrison said the “golden rule” was to choose tax changes that would drive jobs and growth. “These are the benchmarks we set against the tax measures of this government,” he said.

This has always been the political answer to the years of Labor waste and mismanagement. If the country really wants all that free stuff, they will have to pay for it. And if the Budget is used to underscore the lesson of first the effort and then reward, we will be all the better for it. Let Labor become the party of the magic pudding and free lunch. Let the Libs finally turn themselves back into the party that reminds everyone there is no such thing.