bushy

I.ve just been reading the thread about how much better or worse off you can be in Oz and just wanted to ask about Australian taxes.When you say tax do you mean tax on salary?What other taxes do you pay?Is there an equivalent to the british 'council tax'? At the moment over half of our combined wages goes on one tax or another.We are hoping to be able to come over and buy a house outright so long as we can sell ours here so if we had no mortgage we'd have to be better off wouldn't we?
We don't ever seem to have any more money to spend here as every time we get a wage rise then everything else seems to get dearer too!!

wmoore

There is a 'council tax'. I can't remember what it's called because I'm a renter and don't pay it
There's CGT - VAT
Rego = road fund licence aka the tax disc
Income tax at up t 48.5%.
Stamp duty on car and house purchases

Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax My impression is that if you take out the various duties on homebuying (many of which you can claim back as a first-time buyer) then overall it's similar to the UK.

Amazulu

plus:

stamp duty on mortgages,
fuel duty,

& others that I can't think of right now. For me tax is higher in Australia but I knew that before I came. It's heading downwards here though & is rising in the UK.

tonyk38

It does seem to one of the commonest misconceptions, tax.

Is there some source out there that keeps saying that you'll pay less tax in Aus? Otherwise why do so many folks think they're going to pay less in Aus?

HiddenPaw

Article from today's news about taxes on property:

Taxes add to affordability problem

March 28, 2006
Government taxes and charges are adding up to 34.8 per cent to the cost of buying a new house says consultants UrbisJHD. In Melbourne government charges contributed over $91,000 or 24 per cent to the cost of a typical $366,000 house and land package, up from $37,000 in 2000. In north west Sydney government taxes and charges added $198,000 or 34.8 per cent to the cost of a home. GST on construction costs was the largest contributor to the tax take

HiddenPaw

There is a report on some global website or other that gives the tax liability tables for various countries around the world. I think Aus sits lower than the UK. I'll have to dig it out.

It's very difficult to say one way or the other when so much of it is down to personal circumstance tho, isn't it (salary, spending, etc).

OP - Basic rate tax in Oz is 30% but there is no NI (but need to consider any Medicare levy). Top rate taxes are higher than the UK (42% and 47%) but capture a smaller percentage of earners in Oz than the 40% bracket does in the UK.

Then there's all the other taxes, and taxes on taxes....

HiddenPaw

Here ya go.....read what you will into a bunch of statistics. This report has UK at 29.7% and Oz at 23.1% for:

The percentage of gross earnings given up in tax, including any social security contributions. Calculated for a single worker without children, earning 100 % of the average wage.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/...ax_wed_sin_wor

I don't know whether this refers purely to income taxes or covers all indirect taxation too.

Amazulu

The extra tax I pay over here makes the cost of living higher for me than the UK but again I knew this before I came. I earn very well here which kind of make it easier to pay higher tax & still have a decent standard of living. I don't like it though!

tonyk38

Thanks for the link HP!

I think over all, it's very difficult to estimate how much tax you will pay until you're actually doing it. By all accounts however, most folks are paying about the same as in the UK, and quite a few have stated that they pay more...

But then, like Amazulu I know this; so I'm not going to get hot under the collar about it.

sassenach

these figures can be misread and played around with but i did notice innthe middle 40% of tax payers the average tax paid in australia is 31.1 and in the uk 32 % i presume this is on income.i also noticed australias suicide rate is almost double the uk and yet when analyzing statistics it shows to a certain degree that you get more for your moneyin ozzie even though earning less on average income shows that money doesnt bring you happiness i guess.

HiddenPaw

Well, yes, exactly! I think also these stats pre-date the tax reforms, in which income tax thresholds in Oz have been raised - e.g a couple of years ago, the 47% tax band came in at something like $70,000 - now the threshold is $95k and next year this will increase to $125k (if I remember rightly). But of course in that time, things like property prices have rocketed whilst stamp duty rates have largely stayed the same, so people are paying more in property taxes than they were 5 years ago.

I tend to think it's all much of a muchness and depends where/how you spend your money.

tonyk38

Sadly, there's an awful lot of other reasons that Aussies are topping themselves at such a rate...

bushy

thanks for all the replies,still confused!! we don,t expect to be better off in oz but to have a better lifestyle.
can anyone tell me,is the advertised house price on a real estate agents web site the actual price including any taxes or is there more to add on that I haven't thought about? It seems that you can get a decent 3or4 bedroom house for a lot less than here in the uk,am I wrong?