The gender pay gap is alive and well and ‘tax bludgers’ are thriving in Australia, as the latest figures show scores of millionaires paid nothing on their income.
The ^tethicsinbricks Twitter account declared this week: “Philanthropy is fine. Paying taxes is better.” The latest Australian Tax Ofifce statistics on tax paid by individual wage and salary earners in 2019-20 brings home how optional that obligation is for some in contemporary Australia – where growing inequalities become starker by the day…
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It shows the economy continues “to work very well for those it was designed for, and by,” says Melbourne’s Per Capita think tank executive director, Emma Dawson. “Wealthy men.”
“If you’re a surgeon in Toorak, a mining engineer in Cottesloe or a merchant banker from Mosman, you’re doing very nicely indeed, with the tax system providing plenty of options for you to stash your wealth away from the tax collector.
“Women working in the care and services economy, on the other hand, continue to struggle: our tax system takes every cent it can find from your meagre earnings while our welfare system begrudges even the slightest support to help you keep your head above water,” Dawson says.
All genders suffer from the consequences of some people’s tax avoidance and evasion. For women, this is further compounded by a specific labour-market disadvantage.
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The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace, 13/8/22
