Redland's low-and-middle-income earners, faced with hikes in Redland City Council fees and charges of 4.5 per cent, are set to benefit from this week's federal and state tax and welfare payments.
While the city's ratepayers wait for July 12 to find out how much their rates will increase, low-paid workers across the country will get an extra $17.10 a week as a result of the national wage decision.
About 1.4 million workers get the extra 2.9 per cent, likely to flow on to others after the federal government increased the tax-free threshold from $6000 to $18,200.
The new tax scales, to offset the side-effects of the carbon tax introduced on Sunday, will give every worker earning up to $80,000 a tax cut of about $300 a year.
Other carbon tax compensation measures will boost pensions and family tax benefits by 1.7 per cent, according to the federal government.
Worth up to $338 a year for single pensioners and up to $110 a child for families that receive Family Tax Benefit A, some of the increases have been paid up front.
The rest will be paid fortnightly from next March. Families receiving Tax Benefit A will also get an extra $300 a child a year.
Those earning up to $83,000 will get a smaller private health insurance rebate. Those earning more than $129,000 will lose the rebate.
The Queensland Government also said it had moved to help families cope with the rising cost of living after the start on the new financial year on Sunday.
It gave home-buyers a stamp-duty concession, starting on Sunday, that could save them up to $7000, but that followed its move on April 30 to pull the state's $10,000 assistance grant for buyers and builders of new homes.
It also scrapped the previous government's waste tax, which forced commercial and industrial waste operators to pay $39 a tonne to dump waste at council tips.
The government said it froze the standard domestic electricity tariff, known as tariff 11, saving households $120 a year.
It also froze motor vehicle registration and changed conditions on public transport go cards, allowing south east commuters to travel free after nine journeys in a week.
Reducing the cost of public transport was an issue addressed in the Queensland Council of Social Services second Cost of Living report released on Friday.
The report calls for energy and transport concessions to be extended to all Health Care Card users.
It found low and middle income families were still struggling to afford a basic standard of living compared with last year. Although household disposable income was still in deficit, the amount was less than last year.