WORKING families will not get further tax relief or family payment increases in this year's Budget because most are almost $4000 better off under Labor, the Rudd Government says.

Labor's risky strategy for the May 11 Budget will favour infrastructure spending over individual tax cuts and family welfare, which have been budget centrepieces for more than a decade.

As it prepares to sell the benefits of long-term investment in infrastructure, the Government has given the Sunday Herald Sun a Treasury analysis it will use to show that working families are better off. But welfare groups say the $4000 figure is theoretical. They argue there is still room for tax cuts for lower-income families.

"Food prices have been rising by 9 per cent on average year on year, and some foods by 14 per cent," said Victorian Council of Social Service chief Cath Smith.

"Rents have also been rising by about 15 per cent a year," Ms Smith said. Increased utility prices were also taking a big bite out of the average family budget.

"Water bills will rise by an average of 15 per cent on the first of July, electricity bills are going up by 15 per cent and gas by 9 per cent," she said.

While interest rates have fallen since the Rudd Government came to office, the size of the average mortgage has risen in the past two years from $264,000 to $324,000.

The Treasury analysis assesses the effect of two Swan budgets and the next round of tax cuts on July 1 on three low-income families.

The July 1 tax cuts are the third part of a series of income tax relief measures announced in 2008 that will put an extra $20 a week in the pocket of someone earning $70,000 a year.

The families in the analysis are very much Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's "working families".

The first is a couple with two children earning $100,000 a year, the next an almost identical family with a single income of $100,000 a year.

The last is a single parent with two children earning $45,000 a year.

The first two families will be more than $3900 a year better off from July 1 and will have received one-off payments of $5700 and $5050 respectively. The single-parent family will be almost $3500 a year better off and have received one-off payments worth $5700.

Speaking from Washington yesterday, where he is attending the G20 Finance Ministers meeting, Mr Swan said Labor was still committed to families, but wanted to change their focus.

"Now it's time to get on with the job of converting Australia's successes during the global recession into long-term gains, and that's what the upcoming Budget will be all about," he said.

"The Budget will mark a new focus on delivering for families by strengthening our community for the long-term, which is why delivering our health and hospital reforms is so important."

In many ways the new strategy is one of necessity.

To fund stimulus packages, the Rudd Government has accumulated debt that will take another decade to pay off, according to projections.

In addition, the health reforms signed off last week add pressure to the Budget bottom line.

Hard heads such as Mr Swan and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner want to shed the Howard legacy of "everyone gets a prize" in the Federal Budget.

The Budget has yet to be signed off.

Critiques:

The new financial budget by Australian is aiming to change their focus from families welfare to investment in public infrastructure. Families in Australia should not worry about this because the Government are going to use the funds to carry out other activities that will benefit not only individual family but the whole society. If the public infrastructure get better, citizens's standard of living will be upgraded, country's image will be improved, businessmen's confidence towards investment will increase, leading to more spending and thus generating more employment and national income will also boost up. There are many macroeconomic benefits behind this new Treasury budget, so everyone should not be panic first to worry about the reduced tax cuts and other kinds of families benefits.