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Financial Understanding + Responsibility Yields Independence

WE BREAK FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE INTO SIMPLE, MANAGEABLE PIECES

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Jun 22, 2018

Welcome to Furious Friday… The Tax Bill has Passed…Yay!

Now, let’s clear up a little misconception floating around, we’re going to talk about the Robocall that was made to a lot of Queenslanders.

I wasn’t “lucky” enough to get one of these calls, but I can just imagine it was the same voice that does all the smear campaigns. It said:

"Right now, in Canberra, Pauline Hanson plans to vote with Malcolm Turnbull to give another tax cut to the top end of town. She's even giving herself a massive tax cut. But it's not too late for us to stop her. Pauline is in Canberra right now – the final vote could happen at any minute. Press one to be connected direct to Pauline Hanson's office to tell her yourself: Stop selling Queenslanders out."

 

Questions of the day:

  1. Are these tax cuts going to the “top end of town”?
  2. And is this selling Queenslanders (and the rest of Australia as it is Federal) out?

The plan is a 6-year rollout, aimed at reducing the burden on the full-time workers in Australia due to the progressive tax policy.

Here's a summary of the changes, courtesy of the Parliamentary Budget Office:

1 July 2018

  1. Increases the upper threshold for the 32.5% marginal tax rate from $87,000 to $90,000 (3-4% of Australians)
  2. Low and Middle-Income Tax Offset of up to $530 for individuals with taxable income up to $125,333 (Full $530 between $48-90k, reduces by 1.5 cents every dollar over $90k)

1 July 2022*

  1. Increases the upper threshold for the 32.5% marginal tax rate from $90,000 to $120,000
  2. Increases the upper threshold for the 19% marginal tax rate from $37,000 to $41,000

1 July 2024

  1. Increases the lower threshold for the 45% marginal tax rate from $180,001 to $200,001 from 1 July 2024.
  2. Removes the 37% marginal tax rate, income from $41,001 to $200,000 is taxed at a marginal rate of 32.5% from 1 July 2024.
    1. That is around 40% of Australians – Or almost every single full-time worker!

Who will receive this reduction in tax? Let’s look at the stats

  1. $81,531 average annual full-time earnings (Data Sourced: ABS)
  2. 5m Australians - 19 million Australians are over 15 years old
    • 6m are employed full time
    • 8m are employed part time
    • 800k are unemployed (looking for work)
    • 2m Not in labour force
      • About 3.5m over 65
  3. Incomes of 19m Australians of those 15+ years of age
    • 10% - No incomes
    • 31% (6m) between $12,000 and $30,000 – But these are likely those not in the work force or working part time
    • 46% above $30,000 – About 8.5m, of which 6.6m are working full time
    • 6m Australians will not have to pay the 37% tax bracket from 2022
      1. This group makes up 85% of all tax income the government receives.

The Verdict:

  1. Not much benefit for the first 4 years
  2. Small benefit to those between $50k and $90k - $530 tax offset now (4.5m Australians)
    1. By 2022 – Earning $120,000 p.a. you will have $12,220 more per annum (10% of salary)

Back to the questions

  1. Is this just for the top end? Well for those lucky people who work full time it does benefit
    • The top 30% of income tax payers who pay for 84% of the tax will get the benefits
    • So, I guess the claims are true… but it isn’t like the top 1% are the only ones getting the benefits. And they’re the ones paying a higher tax rate anyway.
  2. Is it selling anyone out? Or letting people keep what they earn?
    • When you look at it, for those not paying much tax, they don’t save much, as they don’t pay much
    • They don’t receive anything either, as it is a tax cut and not a handout.

The real benefit:

  1. Save tax – Have more disposable income
    • More to invest! - $3k to $12k for the average households incomes (about $120,000)
  2. Shouldn’t really be more to spend but either repay bad debts or increase net wealth

 

I hope this clears things up!

Have a great weekend

 

 

*Yo, I said “2020” on the podcast, but I meant “2022”. Sorry!