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Income tax

Yesterday

The ATO looks at how lifestyles match up with declared income.

How the ATO caught taxpayers cheating on ‘lifestyle’ assets

The Tax Office has provided The Australian Financial Review with exclusive details about some recent investigations.

  • Duncan Hughes

This Month

Liberal candidate for Curtin Tom White.

Curtin bid is not a ‘Game of Thrones’ quest

Readers’ letters on WA Liberal candidate Tom White; how to halt Iran; AI’s double-edged sword; income tax hit; investor risks; divisive politics; and green steel.

September

Treasurer Jim Chalmers during a press conference on Monday.

Income tax hits 25-year high in Chalmers’ surplus

The treasurer’s second budget in the black has been underwritten by the highest share of wages taxation since before the GST was introduced in 2000.

  • John Kehoe and Michael Read
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Resources Minister Madeleine King and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

China stimulus should stabilise iron ore price, says resources minister

Resources Minister Madeleine King says China’s latest stimulus package was unlikely to push prices higher, but it should help arrest the one-third fall seen since the start of 2024.

  • Ronald Mizen
Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten at the ALP confference

Bill Shorten’s Labor legacy: tax, spend and a broken NDIS

Beyond the NDIS blowout, Shorten failed to build a new Labor economic growth project that was more aspirational for hard-working and over-taxed wage earners.

  • John Kehoe
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August

The Coalition is considering a policy of lifting the tax threshold for middle income earners.

Coalition to fund ‘aspirational’ tax cuts from axed Labor policies

Lifting the $135,000 tax threshold is one option being considered as the Coalition aims to help aspirational voters.

  • Phillip Coorey
Paul Keating.

Keating warns on Labor’s $3m super tax

Jim Chalmers’ refusal to index the $3 million threshold for the tax hit has been described as “unconscionable” by Paul Keating in private talks with the industry.

  • John Kehoe, Phillip Coorey and Hannah Wootton
Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan, Zoe Daniel, Kylea Tink, Sophie Scamps and Kate Chaney.

Independents team up to oppose tax rise on superannuation

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is struggling to win political support for the biggest revenue-raising measure in his budget.

  • John Kehoe
New ATO commissioner Rob Heferen.

This philosophy-quoting taxman is going old school

Six months into the job, Tax Commissioner Rob Heferen has put businesses and individuals on notice he’s coming after $50.2 billion in money owed to the government.

  • Tom McIlroy
While it’s technically possible for someone to pay no income tax, it’s highly unlikely.

Is it possible to pay no income tax?

It is nonsensical to spend money just to get a tax deduction because you’re still out of pocket.

  • Penny Wise

July

The change will turn Australian tax principles on their head.

There is a simpler, fairer way to tax super above $3m

Australia will soon become the only pension system in the world to tax unrealised capital gains.

  • Peter Burgess
Why is Australia doing well on income mobility relative to other countries? One big reason is tertiary education.

The land of the fair go is taxing social mobility

Australia’s antiquated over-reliance on income taxes means that if you do manage to succeed, then that success is taxed heavily.

  • Richard Holden
Middle Australia has every opportunity to rise up the income ranks, according to new Productivity Commission analysis.

Middle Australia is indeed the lucky country

A suite of new data sources has enabled the Productivity Commission to revise its measure of economic mobility. The result surprised everyone.

  • Tom Burton

Four ways to build wealth with your tax cuts

Whether you’re trying to pay off your mortgage early or boost your super, put your extra income to good use.

  • Duncan Hughes

June

Fast-rising wages and asset prices will leave more Australians facing Division 293 tax on their income and deciding whether to pay it from their super.

Why you could be caught by the ‘wealth tax’ this year

Fast-rising wages and asset prices will leave more Australians facing Division 293 tax on their income and deciding whether to pay it from their super.

  • Tom Richardson
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Wentworth MP Allegra Spender.

Spender, Pocock join forces against $3m super tax grab

The teal independent and the crossbench senator are working to stop the government taxing unrealised gains in its plans for large superannuation balances.

  • Phillip Coorey
Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock are opposed to taxing unrealised gains.

New blow to Labor’s tax hit on super

Government plans to lift the tax rate on super accounts of more than $3 million have suffered a blow, with key Senate crossbenchers opposed to the changes.

  • Phillip Coorey
If you’re someone who has historically been lax with record keeping, you can expect an audit from the Tax Office’s new AI-powered systems.

How much extra tax you stand to pay because of bracket creep

The average taxpayer will lose $2000 to the so-called stealth tax in the next four years, which will deliver the federal government an extra $29 billion in revenue.

  • Michael Read
Did you gain stocks through an employee share plan? There are some issues to consider to reduce the tax bill.

How to cut tax if you have an employee share plan

Don’t assume the taxman won’t come knocking – this is how it works and what you can do to soften the blow.

  • Colin Lewis
The top 1 per cent of earners paid a fifth of all income tax.

Top earners and companies bear record tax burden

Newly released ATO data reveals the top 1 per cent of earners are forking out almost one-fifth of personal tax revenue.

  • Michael Read and Tom McIlroy

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/income-tax-5yk