The occupations set to lose out from Labor’s stage 3 tax plan

Anthony Albanese’s rejigged stage three tax cuts will benefit nurses, teachers, chefs and truck drivers. But who loses out?

Anthony Albanese’s rejigged stage three tax cuts will take money out of the pockets of scientists, engineers, IT professionals and miners.

Anthony Albanese’s rejigged stage three tax cuts will take money out of the pockets of scientists, engineers, IT professionals and miners, and hand it to nurses, teachers, chefs and truck drivers.

Labor’s plan, announced on Wednesday, will hand less tax relief from July to upper-middle and high-income households than would have been provided in the legislated tax reform package.

The revamped package is aimed at delivering cost-of-living relief to those in the mortgage belt of middle Australia, who have suffered massive hits to their living standards as a result of climbing interest rates and high inflation, but missed out on previous support aimed at those on the lowest incomes.

Anybody with an income of between $45,000 and $135,000 will get an extra $800 in tax relief in 2024-25 under the new rules, before that benefit is whittled away and turns negative from approaching $150,000 upwards, and leaves those on $180,000 a year $2346 worse off.

“Whether you’re earning $50,000, or $90,000, or $190,000 or more, I know you work hard for it,” the Prime Minister said in his National Press Club address in Canberra on Thursday, as he strove the sell the benefits of the changes.

“I recognise that what you do is essential to the strength of our economy and the health of our society. And I want to make sure your efforts are rewarded.”

Treasury’s advice to the government on the stage three tax changes, released on Thursday, revealed “the redesign delivers a larger tax cut to more than 90 per cent of taxpayers in in-demand occupations, including teachers, nurses, aged carers and disability support workers, and childcare workers”.

But with PropTrack estimating a household in Sydney needs an after-tax income of $200,000 to afford an average-priced property, many people on relatively high salaries may struggle to understand why they should bear the burden of Labor’s redistribution of the stage three benefits.

Analysis by The Australian of Australian Taxation Office data on average taxable income reveals this ­aspirational cohort includes occupations ranging from IT business analysts, school principals and chemical engineers, who earn about $155,000 a year, to vets ($157,000), mining engineers ($172,000) and metallurgists and doctors on closer to $180,000. Also on the list are air traffic controllers ($169,151), footballers ($155,844) and train controllers ($151,250).

The ATO tax statistics reveal that well-heeled – and especially expensive – suburbs such as Paddington, Seaforth and Rose Bay in Sydney, Albert Park and Brighton in Melbourne, and City Beach and Mosman Park in Perth, are in the dozen postcodes that report average incomes of $150,000-$180,000.

Donagh Swaine, an electrician, and partner Siret Sarapuu, a manager in environmental energy, have two children aged two and three, and said they were against the proposed changes.

Siret Sarapuu and partner Donagh Swaine at Coogee Beach. Picture: John Feder

At Coogee beach in Sydney’s east, Mr Swaine said: “I do a lot of hours and so much of it just goes to tax. I earn more than $200,000 sometimes, and it’s not worth it (extra effort) if my family doesn’t see that money. I could be spending more of my hours at home.”

Ms Sarapuu agreed, saying “obviously we’re not in favour”.

Additional reporting: James Dowling