High earners don't realise own wealth, study finds.    

Date
    March 25, 2013


Four in ten people believe high earners should pay more tax.   

Contradictory: Four in 10 people earning over $150,000 believe high earners should pay more tax.

Australia's high earners are surprisingly magnanimous when it comes to tax. Many think the rich should pay more. They just don't think that applies to them.    

The two apparently contradictory positions spell trouble for Wayne Swan as he tries to wind back tax breaks in the May budget.

''We are talking about the top 4 or 5 per cent of earners,'' says David Hetherington, executive director of the Per Capita think tank.

''People earning more than $150,000 are generally well disposed to the proposition that high earners should pay more. Around four in every 10 thought that in our latest survey, but when we ask about their own situation the overwhelming majority think they pay too much.''


''It's as if they don't realise they are high earners,'' he said. ''When the Treasurer cuts back on their tax breaks they will complain because they don't think they are well off. Their complaints will be amplified in the media, to which they have better access.''    

The annual Per Capita survey shows attitudes to tax hardening across the entire population, with the proportion of Australians who believe they pay too much tax passing 50 per cent for the first time.

''While there remains a belief that the well-off should pay more, there is a view that everyone else is paying too much. A lot of it seems to have arisen in the belt tightening that has followed the global financial crisis,'' Mr Hetherington said.

''Pensions, university fees, school fees, health insurance - these are all things that once the government would have looked after. There's a growing view that the government is no longer pulling

its weight and that people can use their money better themselves.''

About 85 per cent of those surveyed believe the government should spend more on health but the proportion has slid from 95 per cent over the past two years.

About 40 per cent believe the government should spend more on social security, down from nearly 70 per cent in the past two years. Support for spending on defence has dropped from 40 per cent to 28 per cent, support for overseas aid has slid from 18 to 10 per cent.

Asked specifically whether they would be prepared to pay more tax to support Gonski-style education reforms, 94 per cent of those surveyed said no.

''I am not saying the government shouldn't fund these things … ,'' Mr Hetherington said. ''But the survey suggests it will have its work cut out making the case. It'll be accused of starting a class war.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/high-earners-dont-realise-own-wealth-study-finds-20130324-2go1l.html#ixzz2OUV7MrF1

Doctor Jolly wrote on Mar 25^th, 2013 at 7:54am:

How many people have migrated to get all that free stuff?

You want the boats, you want to pay.