Stage 3 tax cuts that are expected to take effect in 2024 will benefit men more than women. This is primarily due to the gender pay gap that has seen a higher proportion of men attain higher salaries through negotiations with management and not having to take time out of the workforce due to childbearing and rearing.
As a result, there are more men in the highest income groups. With workers in the higher income brackets set to take up the bulk of the incoming tax cuts, men are predicted to be the biggest winners.
Under the tax cut arrangement, those earning between $40,000 to $200,000 will have a flat tax rate of 30 cents applied to their income. According to the Independent Parliamentary Budget Office, the tax cuts will cost the government about $313 billion over ten years. Just over half of these tax cuts will go to workers earning over $180,000, the bulk of whom are men.
While the government has remained silent on this impact of the tax cuts, the Greens have stated that going forward with the plan will add to inequality, disproportionately rewarding men at a level that is twice as much what women would receive. This is despite Budget Papers indicating that income taxes paid by women are increasing at a faster pace than those paid by men.
The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) found that between the 2014-15 to 2019-20 fiscal years, income taxes paid by women grew by 18% as compared to just 10% growth by men over the same period. The foundation has acknowledged the government’s attempts to foster equality through such measures as promising to implement an annual Women’s Budget Statement on how the budget impacts women and efforts made by the Women’s Equality Taskforce, but says there is still room for improvement.
The Greens estimate that 65% of the benefits will go to men over the next ten years and are calling on the government to scrap the tax cuts. Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said that the Labor government’s actions would benefit politicians and billionaires while keeping renters in crisis and people in poverty. He added that every dollar that lines the pockets of the rich is a dollar kept from supporting people that needed it.
The Australia Institute has claimed that the removal of the low-middle income tax offset and introduction of the stage 3 tax cuts will leave most workers worse off, with the top 3% of earners receiving almost half of the benefits.
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