‘Never worked harder’: 22-year-old shares reason she feels like she’s paying too much tax

A young Aussie has sparked a debate by sharing the tax horror she’s dealing with now that she works full-time.

A 22-year-old Aussie worker has sparked debate by sharing she’s sick of her salary being chewed up by tax.

Freya Leach, 22, lives in Sydney and works in research. She posted a clip of her commuting to work and highlighted that 25 per cent of her salary goes on tax, 11.5 per cent is taken out for superannuation, and 7 per cent goes towards her HECS debt.

“I’ve never worked harder and I’ve never felt poorer,” she said.

“How do people afford life as a young person in Australia? The cost of living is insane.”

A 22-year-old Aussie worker has sparked debate Picture: Instagram/FreyaLeach

She explained why she feels we pay too much tax. Picture: Instagram/FreyaLeach

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A debate erupted online over Ms Leach’s complaint. Some people argued that the 22-year-old shouldn’t be complaining about her superannuation being taken out when it is ensuring her long-term financial future.

“How much do you get paid? The elites complaining about the cost of living crisis is hilarious,” another asked.

In general though, most people were on Ms Leach’s side and also aren’t happy with the amount of tax they’re paying.

“It’s ridiculous we need to get rid of income tax and get tax through other means like land and resource ownership taxes,” one argued.

“Yep, tax system is ridiculous here,” another said.

Someone else said the cost of living is “horrific in Australia”, and Ms Leach’s complaint was valid.

Someone called the cost of living in Aus “horrific”. Picture: Instagram/FreyaLeach

She said she’s in a better situation than most people but has money concerns these days. Picture: Instagram/FreyaLeach

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The cost of living crisis has meant money concerns consume more and more people and at this point it seems like almost no one is safe.

Ms Leach is the first to admit she’s in a better situation than most. She’s earning a decent wage, she and her partner recently got married and bought a home in Sydney and she found a job after university.

That doesn’t mean she’s happy with the amount of tax she’s paying, though, especially when everything else is so expensive.

The 22-year-old can still remember her shock when she realised how much tax she had to pay when she was only working part-time and studying.

Now that she’s working full-time and has moved into a higher tax bracket, it is even worse, a reality she finds deflating.

“It is frustrating,” she told news.com.au.

“The Australian promise is that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead, but that is getting harder.”

Ms Leach argued that the economy she’s entering into isn’t very “positive” and it has become difficult to remain optimistic.

“I think the big issue for young people is that they get pay rises, you get pushed into a higher tax bracket and then you barely see any benefit from that,” she explained.

“I know so many people working harder than they ever had but feel poorer than they ever.”

She said people are working more but feeling poorer. Picture: Instagram/FreyaLeach

Ms Leach said she’s definitely feeling the pinch more now because she and her partner bought their first home this year, which has increased the financial pressure.

The 22-year-old said the only way they could buy was by combining their incomes.

“The unfortunate reality is that the only way I was able to buy an apartment was because there were two of us,” she said.

The thrill of homeownership has also been marred by how expensive everything has become and she’s noticed it even more grocery shopping.

“It is really tough. You’re forced to make daily decisions because every dollar counts,” she said.

Ms Leach said the perfect example is the fact she didn’t buy strawberries the other day because they were $5.50, whereas a few years ago, she’d have probably just paid the extra amount.

“Knowing everything I have to pay and we have the mortgage hanging over us … I just never thought I’d be worrying about the cost of strawberries,” she said.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story did not disclose Freya Leach works for the Menzies Research Institute, and was previously the Liberal candidate for Balmain.

Originally published as ‘Never worked harder’: 22-year-old shares reason she feels like she’s paying too much tax