A coalition government will increase the education tax rebate for parents of school children, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has announced.
The 50 per cent rebate will be lifted to $500 a year for each primary school student and $1000 for each high school student. The rebate is currently $390 for primary school students and $779 for secondary students.
Mr Abbott said the coalition will increase the spending limit for the rebate to $1,000 for primary schools students and $2,000 for high school students.
"At the moment basically this is a laptop rebate," he told reporters while campaigning in suburban Brisbane.
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"We are expanding the rebate so it can be claimed for school fees and also for other educational costs such as tuition and special educational costs for children with, for instance, dyslexia."
Mr Abbott said the expanded rebate would start on January 1, 2011.
"We understand that school expenses start at the beginning of the school year," he said.
"So we'll pay more, it will cover more, and it will start sooner than is the case with the government's rebate."
