Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is backing away from a pledge to cut taxes for wealthy Australians, blaming a federal government “spending spree”.

The Coalition has vowed to take “strong tax reforms” to the next federal election, pledging to restore the tax cut package legislated under the former Morrison government.

They were redesigned by the Albanese government in January – with cuts intended for the highest earners halved to fund hundreds of dollars to return to most taxpayers.

At the time, opposition finance spokesman Angus Taylor promised the Coalition would “take to the election strong tax reforms, in keeping with the stage-three tax cuts”. Dutton also promised “a significant tax policy which will reduce taxes”.

On Wednesday, he cited US president-elect Donald Trump’s appeal to voters angry about inflation as justification for a reconsideration.

“The priority, to be honest, is to get inflation down, to get interest rates down and to support jobs in the economy,” he told Radio National.

“[Tax cuts] depends on where the numbers are as we go into the election and how much money is available and how we prioritise our spending and how we do it in a way which is targeting inflation, so that interest rates can come down.”

Dutton said how a Coalition government would help people under financial stress depended on the state of the economy after the next election, which is due by May. He blamed the government for being on a spending spree.

“Any tax cut is a good change, and any way that you can address bracket creep is good, because it is the silent thief in the night,” he said.

“If there are ways in which we can help people, we’ll do that, but it’ll largely be dependent on what the numbers are coming into the next election.”

Dutton’s comments came as the latest data showed wages growth slowed in the year to September – down to 3.5 per cent from 4.1 per cent in the year to June.

On a quarterly basis, the 0.8 per cent wage growth captured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics was the same as the previous quarter, and slightly below expectations.

Pay packets have expanded strongly as demand for workers remains high but slower growth is expected as the economy weakens and the labour market slackens.

Some economists are wary that persistently strong wage growth without accompanying productivity gains can add to inflation pressures and complicate the Reserve Bank of Australia’s inflation fight.

-with AAP