Treasurer Wayne Swan took an axe to several planned measures as he transformed a big deficit into a slim surplus. Here are five key changes that will impact on our personal finances.

No reward for saving
The Budget scraps the planned 50 per cent tax cut for interest income earned up to $1000. “The depositors that were set to benefit have been short-changed”.

Bye bye tax deduction
Plans for a $500 standard tax deduction for all workers have been cancelled. It would have delivered money and time savings for people with basic tax returns, and was planned to start on July 1 and rise to $1000 in July next year.

Super in the slow lane
The concessional super contribution cap of $50,000 for people aged more than 50 will be halved from July 1, a move that has sparked anger from the superannuation sector. People can beat the new cap by maximizing their contributions before June 30.

Hit for high earners
Flagged a few weeks ago, this measure reduces the oversized tax concessions high-income earners – those on $300,000 a year or more – received for super contributions. It’s politically clever because nobody can argue the rich deserve bigger tax concessions than the rest.