Finance guru’s Aus tax rant resonates as Mark Bouris calls for lower income tax rate

Finance guru Mark Bouris has called for a major shake-up of Australia’s income tax system, arguing it’s time the nation got a fairer deal.

Mark Bouris has made a bold proposal for a universal income tax rate of 20 per cent, saying Australians deserve a better deal.

Aussies currently pay the third-highest income tax rate in the OECD, although when social security contributions are factored in the total tax burden on our wages is below average.

“In this country, given the resources we have, Australians should not be paying more than 25 per cent income tax - given all the other taxes you hit us with,” the Yellow Brick Road executive chairman said in an episode of his Mentored podcast.

“In fact, we should be paying 20 per cent income tax across the board. For everybody - rich, poor, whoever.

“The rich will end up paying more by paying GST on their goods and services, because they consume more and they consume more expensive stuff.”

Mr Bouris said Aussies should be “fighting for” lower taxes, “instead of running away and going to some Caribbean island, living there, or going to some other country in Asia”.

“We have a personal obligation to remain solid and fight for what this country deserves - not what we deserve as individuals, but what this country deserves and all its people. I don’t see anyone stand up for that.”

A flat income tax can come with downsides, however, as Eastern European countries discovered when they adopted the measure in the early 2000s.

The rates were introduced to encourage investment and reduce complexity and avoidance, but the results were “mixed,” according to the European Central Bank.

In some cases, the flat rate was set above the old lowest tax bracket, which meant poor households paid more than before. This is why a flat tax is often descibed as “regressive”.

Mr Bouris argued the wealthy would end up paying more tax through GST. Picture: Supplied

Tax expert Belinda Raso said it was time for Australia to enact tax reforms. Picture: Supplied

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Mr Bouris’ plan received widespread support from viewers, along with Tax Invest Accounting director Belinda Raso.

“I like his idea. When we compare with other OECD countries, on average in the 2023 Financial Year we had the highest increase in income tax - 7.6 per cent,” Ms Raso told news.com.au.

“It’s a known fact that this government relies on income tax - 52 per cent of all 2024 Budget takings were income tax - it’s a shocking figure.”

Currently, Aussies paid an average of more than 24 per cent in income tax, but that rate would increase to more than 26 per cent over the next couple of years due to “bracket creep”, she said.

Bracket creep happens when inflation pushes people’s nominal incomes into higher tax brackets, even if their real purchasing power hasn’t increased.

“Most other countries actually align their tax brackets with CPI (the Consumer Price Index),” Ms Raso said.

But politicians on both side of the aisle “love” bracket creep because it boosts government revenue without needing to pass a formal tax increase, which could be deeply unpopular.

Ms Raso said an income tax of the kind Mr Bouris was proposing would be “fantastic”.

“20 per cent sounds great. I don’t know if they’d do it - I think somewhere under 23 per cent would be more realistic.”

She said it was time for the country to see broad tax reforms, which had not been enacted since 2010.

“This past federal election was supposed to be about tax reform. All we got was the $1000 automatic deduction and they lowered the lowest tax bracket.

“That’s not tax reform. As a tax professional I am disappointed and I think as individuals we pay too much tax.”

Like Mr Bouris, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver has previously suggested Australia should rebalance away from income tax and focus more on GST, like New Zealand’s tax model.

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The Yellow Brick Road executive chairman’s plan received widespread support from viewers.

How does Australia compare?

Last year, a single Australian without children earning the average wage paid 23.9 per cent of their gross wage in income tax, according to the OECD’s 2025 Taxing Wages report.

That was the third-highest rate of any country, behind only Denmark (35.4 per cent) and Iceland (25.5 per cent).

It was also far above the OECD average for income tax, at 13.4 per cent.

The total tax that the average Australian paid on their wages - 29.6 per cent - was below the OECD average of 34.9 per cent, however, because many countries had large employee or employer social security contributions.

In Japan, for example, the income tax rate was just 6.3 per cent, but there were social security contributions totalling 26.3 per cent.

So as far as total tax paid out of wages, Australia had a better than average deal.

The average Aussie paid less than the average American (30.1 per cent) or Canadian (32 per cent), but more than New Zealanders (20.8 per cent) and the British (29.4 per cent).