‘Infuriated’: ATO data reveals 66 millionaires avoided paying tax, Australians demand answers

Australians are demanding to know how 66 people who earned an average of $14.5 million each got away with paying no income tax.

Sixty-six people earned more than $1 million in the 2020-21 financial year but paid no income tax, according to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Now, outraged taxpaying Australians are demanding to know how they got away with it.

The ATO released its annual tax statistics on Thursday, based on the tax returns of more than 15 million Australians lodged in the 2020-21 financial year.

Analysis of the data by the Australia Institute showed not only had more people dodged tax than years before, they did so while earning significantly more, too.

Sixty-six Australians earned millions in 2020-21, but paid zero tax.

It found the 66 people who did not pay tax in 2020-21 earned an average of $14.5 million, while in 2019-20 only 60 people avoided paying tax and earned, on average $3.5 million each.

Journalist Greg Jericho shared a table to Twitter showing the “lucky” group who managed to skip out on paying taxes, sparking fury among everyday taxpaying users.

“No tax. So no contribution to the Medicare levy? Zilch?” one user asked, which Jericho confirmed.

Others were worried the situation would only get worse when Stage-Three tax cuts come into effect, describing the situation as “mindboggling”.

“As a plebe (sic) on less than $100K, I really really want to know what concessions/deductions let this happen!” one user wrote.

“If I were to misreport a deduction, I’d have the ATO after me. This is so infuriating.”

And when the St 3 tax cuts come into effect, the rich will be paying even less tax.

Mindboggling.

— Ol’ Chinsy (@[e-mail]) (@GregChinery) June 8, 2023

zilch

— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) June 8, 2023

As a plebe on less than $100K, I really really want to know what concessions/deductions let this happen! If i were to misreport a deduction, I'd have the ATO after me. This is so infuriating.

— Catherine C. Turner (@byccturner) June 8, 2023

Senior economist at the Australia Institute Matt Grudnoff said the group were able to dodge paying income tax by spending hundreds of thousands on tax agents to manage their tax affairs – which is an allowable tax deduction in itself under Australia’s taxation system.

“There a whole load of different schemes and methods these people used,” Mr Grudnoff told news.com.au.

“But, essentially, they spent a lot of money – on average, around $220,000 each – to hire very, very smart people to work out how to reduce their taxable income down below the tax-free threshold.”

And they were able to claim that money spent on a tax agent back, to offset the use of said tax agent.

Meanwhile, the data found the average Australian paid just $180 to manage their tax affairs – the same as the previous financial year.

“We’re not talking about your local tax accountant in the shopping centre or on the main street,” Mr Grudnof said.

“We’re talking about some of the big accounting firms with very specialist people who dug into tax law and found new loopholes to navigate their clients through as many as possible.”

He said this was essentially the problem at the heart of the recent PwC scandal, where the firm allegedly “advised the government how to close the tax-free loopholes while advising its clients how to avoid new ones”.

PwC allegedly used its work with the government to close tax loopholes for their clients’ benefits. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Interestingly, Mr Grudnoff said uber-wealthy people were able to reduce about two-thirds of their collective $956 million gross income through the capital gains tax loophole – slashing about $656 million with it, alone.

He said it was unfair that being able to afford expensive and intelligent accountants meant the uber-wealthy could get out of paying tax, and called for the government to strengthen its own crack down on loopholes rather than relying on consultants, like PwC.

“You might find that it stops this cat-and-mouse game where the government uses consultants to find loopholes and those smart people spend time and money to find more loopholes that the government needs to close.”

“They also need to make it pointless for people to find more deductions beyond a certain point.

“That will make the taxation system fairer and more progressive, and will stop this stupid whack-a-mole game we play that is entirely unproductive.”

Wealthy Australians paid hundreds of thousands to reduce their taxable income below the tax-free threshold.

The ATO data shows that in 2020-21, the average taxpaying Australian had an average taxable income of $68,298 — an increase of 6.9% compared to 2019-20.

The median, or middle-earning Australian, made $50,980 in 2020-21, paid $11,026 in tax, and had a median superannuation account balance of $59,833.

The bulk of Australians who filed a tax return in 2020-21 fell into the $45,000 — $120,000 tax bracket, paying 41.5 per cent of all individual income tax.

Individuals who earned $180,001 or more paid 35.4 per cent of net income tax, and nearly 20 per cent of income tax came from people who earned between $120,001 and $180,000.