Cuts that would add about $10 to taxpayers’ pockets every week will be repealed in favour of a plan to slash the cost of fuel under a coalition government.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will deliver his reply to the federal budget on Thursday after Labor announced a two-phase tax cut.

He is expected to promise the coalition would halve the fuel excise for 12 months, lowering the rate on petrol and diesel from about 50 cents to 25 cents per litre.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the opposition’s proposal would provide immediate relief for Australians under the most pressure and would replace Labor’s tax cuts.

“We would absolutely repeal it,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.

“This will replace what Labor is doing, which we think is inappropriate under the circumstances as we’ve laid out in the last 24 hours.”

While the excise cut will provide some relief to those in outer suburbs who drive long distances, it will also benefit transport tycoons like Lindsay Fox and will not help the thousands of electric vehicle owners across Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Mr Dutton of copying the former Liberal government’s 2022 fuel excise cut.

“This is what Scott Morrison did in the 2022 budget but then it disappeared because it was time-limited,” he told ABC radio.

“This is time-limited as well – just for one year, no ongoing cost-of-living help.”

The coalition voted against the tax cuts baked into the budget after passing parliament on Wednesday, saying they were too little, too late for struggling Australians.

Taxpayers will save up to $268 on their tax bills in 2026/27 and up to $536 every year after under Labor’s proposal.

“What’s obvious here is that a 70-cent-a-day tax cut in 15 months’ time is just not going to help families today who are really suffering,” Mr Dutton said.

Some punters seemed equally unimpressed at the scale of the tax cut with power bills soaring and workers struggling to find jobs.

Ravi Velu is trying to find his way back into the workforce after a personal issue forced him to quit his electrician job.

Skyrocketing cost-of-living pressures have forced the 43-year-old from St Albans in Melbourne’s northwest to pawn his belongings off and move in with his partner and her family.

“I’m no spring chicken anymore, especially trying to get back into the workforce and dealing with personal situations, it’s hard,” Mr Velu told AAP.

He says the tax cuts, which won’t apply to him due to his unemployment, will not make a difference and he is considering voting for someone who takes seriously the thousands of people in his situation.

Meiko Smith owns a hair salon in Devonport, Tasmania and says costs have nearly doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We used to have price hikes every two or three years. Now we’re getting it every year,” she told AAP.

Ms Smith said the tax cuts, which amount to one cup of coffee a week, will do nothing for the cost of living crisis.

“Because an election is coming up, they’re making promises just to get everyone to vote Albanese,” she said.

“It just all seems to be a lot of talk.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers branded the cuts “modest in isolation but substantial when combined with all of the ways that we are helping”.

Mr Taylor didn’t rule out larger tax cuts being offered by the coalition, but the opposition has so far remained tight-lipped on tax relief or economic policy it will offer voters at the election.

The opposition has also pledged to fast-track gas approvals and extend ageing coal-fired power plants to reduce electricity prices in the medium term, in a move slammed by environmental groups.

Speculation is increasing the prime minister will call the election as early as Friday, firing the starting gun on a minimum 33-day campaign that will end with voters going to the polls in May.

This post was originally published on Michael West.