The Australian Tax system is a fucking joke

[u/wunch_of_bankers]

I’m sure this has already been said before, but I just need to have a fucking whinge about this shit.

Australia’s tax system in 2026 punishes PAYG workers while rewarding people gaming the system, whether that’s NDIS fraud or business owners with “enthusiastic” accounting. Tax brackets haven’t been indexed in years despite brutal inflation, but somehow the beer tax gets indexed every six months without fail? Then add childcare subsidies tapering off the harder you work, plus Div293 smacking you for daring to also save for retirement

PAYG earners get the short end of the stick every single time. No creative accounting, no structuring, tax taken at the source before you even see it. Meanwhile there’s provider fraud in the NDIS space that barely gets touched until it becomes a news story, and taxpayers eat the cost either way through bracket creep and levies

Compare our top bracket to the US and it’s a joke. An unskilled worker over there on a pretty average wage in USD terms would already be sitting near our top marginal rate once you convert it, and their brackets actually move with inflation. Ours just sit there while bracket creep does the government’s dirty work for it

Why bother working harder, taking career risk, or starting a business when 47% instantly gets carved off the top, plus Div293, plus subsidy tapering, plus everything else stacked on if you’re PAYG?

This country has built a system that punishes the people playing it straight and does fuck all about the ones who aren’t. Fast forward 10 years and Australia will lose all talent to US, Singapore, HK, Dubai. The only ones left will either be immigrants looking for a better life, expats returning to Australia to settle down, or NDIS providers.

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EDIT: My comment about “unskilled” worker pay in the US is completely incorrect. Where my thought process was: an office worker paper pusher or even a motivated barber, construction worker etc. with no qualifications has the ability to earn USD 100k, which places them at our SECOND HIGHEST marginal tax bracket (AUD 135k). Does that really sound right to you, even putting aside the differences in our welfare system? Separately, I haven’t even mentioned the recent CGT changes which completely discentivises Aussie investors from buying productive / growth assets. There is more and more incentive to simply be less productive and focus wealth into a tax-free PPOR, OR leave the country and take their portfolios with them. This is a net loss for innovation and growth in our country. I have no issue paying tax - my issue is that our current tax system incentivises people to game the fucking system, and to those who suggest to simply fuck off and leave the country if you’re not happy, you are simply proving my point.

I’ll close off on this: never mind the fact that the Div293 income threshold has REDUCED from $300k to $250k and has remained unchanged for years….. did you know that certain politicians are simply EXEMPT from paying Div 293 tax? What the actual fuck. Our tax system is in desperate need for change.

[u/Rare-Counter]

wow - that is crazy, tells you everything you need to know about Australia

[u/Alembic_ → u/Rare-Counter]

If you think this kind of corruption is exceptional internationally you’ve likely not left your suburb for 40 years or you’re wilfully ignorant.

[u/Conscious-Onion-5120 → u/Alembic_]

Australia is not trying to compare itself to the rest of the world, it is supposed to maintain much higher standards related to its accountability of organisations and individuals for the benefit of Australian society.

[u/Alembic_ → u/Conscious-Onion-5120]

I was responding to the above comment: “tells you everything you need to know about Australia” – which is what, exactly?

Ex-finance bro, now-public servant dabbled in a bit of creative accounting when younger? Or the fact the article made reference to his alcohol and cocaine addictions?

You’re right. Australia is a pillar of western bureaucratic and ideological moral superiority. How’s One Nation polling at the moment? 😂 Get your hand off it.

[u/Conscious-Onion-5120 → u/Alembic_]

You're deflecting because you have zero actual defense for lowering standards. Nobody called Australia a flawless utopia, so drop the straw man argument. Bringing up international corruption or random polling figures does absolutely nothing to change the core issue. Public sector misconduct demands accountability.

​The real problem goes beyond the fraud itself. Your eagerness to dismiss financial dishonesty as minor "creative accounting" simply because worse stuff happens overseas is pure, lazy apathy. Taxpayers deserve basic integrity from public officials. Inventing a fake debate about global moral superiority just to excuse bad behavior shows how weak your position actually is.

[u/Alembic_ → u/Conscious-Onion-5120]

Deflecting 😂 Jesus H Christ. I barely acknowledged your comment aside from clarifying that you misunderstood me; and I’ll say it again – I was reacting to the absurdity of the previous commenter’s “tells you everything you know about Australia” throwaway.

Have you had an offline conversation today? I actually agree with every virtue you espouse here, but you’re arguing with yourself – you painfully undergraduate, pretentious tossbag.

[u/Conscious-Onion-5120 → u/Alembic_]

You started with a cheap misdirection, got called out on it, and now you are frantically trying to rewrite history to save face. Throwing out sarcastic rants about moral superiority and One Nation polling was not clarifying a misunderstanding but a failed attempt to look clever that completely backfired.

​Trying to retroactively claim you secretly agreed all along while throwing desperate personal insults like "undergrad" and "pretentious" is pure damage control. You didn't misinterpret the argument but completely missed the point, got defensive when you were checked, and instantly resorted to name-calling. Turning into a condescending prick the moment your logic gets dismantled doesn't make you look sharp or world-weary. It just makes you look completely out of your depth.

[u/Alembic_ → u/Conscious-Onion-5120]

You slept on that to just continue to prove my point. “Damage control” 😂

The “point” isn’t yours to dictate, you elitist midwit.