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http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21666402-5007146,00.html
Breif paragraph:
MOTHERS do 70 per cent of the housework and more than 90 per cent of the childcare. Now it seems they're also paying tax at three times the rate of their husbands.
Taxing times for toiling mums
By Sue Dunlevy
May 04, 2007 01:00am
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
MOTHERS do 70 per cent of the housework and more than 90 per cent of the childcare. Now it seems they're also paying tax at three times the rate of their husbands.
A tax symposium was told Australia has one of the most sexist systems in the world and it could be part of the reason we're facing a skills crisis.
What self-respecting mother would bother entering the work force if her long hours at work actually left her family worse off by $6.25 per week?
Why is it that the male primary earner in a family on average pays just 10.3 per cent of his income in tax but his wife loses on average 32.7 per cent if she goes out to work?
In the past it was sexist social traditions and biased public service rules that kept women out of the workforce.
Now they're being taxed into a life of polishing the whitegoods and laundering the dirty undies because the taxman and the welfare system claw back much of the money they earn.
Research by University of Sydney Law Professor Patricia Apps shows the average tax rate on the father's income in a family was just 10.3 per cent.
But the average tax rate imposed on the mother was 32 per cent, when you took account of the welfare benefits clawed back when she worked.
It's why the hours worked by married women in Australia are among the lowest in the developed world, she says.
In Sweden married women work 75 per cent of the hours worked by married men, in the UK 62 per cent of male hours, and in the US 57 per cent.
In Australia, where women get penalised financially for working, women work just 46 per cent of the hours worked by married men.
With the nation already in the grip of a skills shortage and with an ageing work force a tax policy that actively discourages women from working is nuts.
Research by Professor Brian Andrew from the University of NSW shows why our tax system is so sexist.
He has identified a mix of 10 tax offsets, Medicare concessions, welfare payments and income tests that combine in different ways to provide a financial disincentive to work.
One of the big problems with our system is that we have a tax system based on individual income and a welfare system based on family income.
When a mother goes out to work she not only has to pay tax as an individual but also as a family.
Her income boosts the family earnings and the family also begins to lose family welfare payments such as the family tax benefit.
Professor Andrew shows how this combination means some families pay effective tax rates of between 71 and 110 per cent on their earnings.
One of the worst cases is that of a two income family with three students which earns between $37,500 and $50,000 a year. These families are paying effective tax rates of up to 110 per cent on their income.
Once this family earns over $50,000 a year they lose six separate welfare allowances for their children, the main breadwinner loses some of his low income tax offset and his wife starts paying the Medicare Levy.
When combined with the tax they have to pay, the welfare clawback leaves this family worse off by $6.25 per week.
The Government has been moving slowly to reduce some of the worst effects of these tax and welfare disincentives for women to work.
Tax cuts and changes to the family tax benefit thresholds in the last two budgets have reduced effective tax rates for some two income families from 89 per cent to 71.67 per cent.
But clearly a lot more needs to be done.
Treasurer Peter Costello has boasted of wanting to make Australia the most female friendly country in the world.
With the Budget predicted to be in surplus by over $15 billion this year and $13 billion next year there could never be a better opportunity for some action on making the tax system female friendly.
But fixing the problem isn't going to be easy.
Professor Andrews's research showed cutting tax rates won't necessarily make much difference. One proposal that could help some families is to raise the tax free threshold from $6000 to $12,000.
Liberal MP Alan Cadman wants the Government to pay all families with children under five $4700 a year per child which they'd get whether mum worked or not.
The Treasurer has promised a family friendly budget but this research shows is that what we really need is a mother friendly budget.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21666402-5007146,00.html
Breif paragraph:
MOTHERS do 70 per cent of the housework and more than 90 per cent of the childcare. Now it seems they're also paying tax at three times the rate of their husbands.
Taxing times for toiling mums
By Sue Dunlevy
May 04, 2007 01:00am
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
MOTHERS do 70 per cent of the housework and more than 90 per cent of the childcare. Now it seems they're also paying tax at three times the rate of their husbands.
A tax symposium was told Australia has one of the most sexist systems in the world and it could be part of the reason we're facing a skills crisis.
What self-respecting mother would bother entering the work force if her long hours at work actually left her family worse off by $6.25 per week?
Why is it that the male primary earner in a family on average pays just 10.3 per cent of his income in tax but his wife loses on average 32.7 per cent if she goes out to work?
In the past it was sexist social traditions and biased public service rules that kept women out of the workforce.
Now they're being taxed into a life of polishing the whitegoods and laundering the dirty undies because the taxman and the welfare system claw back much of the money they earn.
Research by University of Sydney Law Professor Patricia Apps shows the average tax rate on the father's income in a family was just 10.3 per cent.
But the average tax rate imposed on the mother was 32 per cent, when you took account of the welfare benefits clawed back when she worked.
It's why the hours worked by married women in Australia are among the lowest in the developed world, she says.
In Sweden married women work 75 per cent of the hours worked by married men, in the UK 62 per cent of male hours, and in the US 57 per cent.
In Australia, where women get penalised financially for working, women work just 46 per cent of the hours worked by married men.
With the nation already in the grip of a skills shortage and with an ageing work force a tax policy that actively discourages women from working is nuts.
Research by Professor Brian Andrew from the University of NSW shows why our tax system is so sexist.
He has identified a mix of 10 tax offsets, Medicare concessions, welfare payments and income tests that combine in different ways to provide a financial disincentive to work.
One of the big problems with our system is that we have a tax system based on individual income and a welfare system based on family income.
When a mother goes out to work she not only has to pay tax as an individual but also as a family.
Her income boosts the family earnings and the family also begins to lose family welfare payments such as the family tax benefit.
Professor Andrew shows how this combination means some families pay effective tax rates of between 71 and 110 per cent on their earnings.
One of the worst cases is that of a two income family with three students which earns between $37,500 and $50,000 a year. These families are paying effective tax rates of up to 110 per cent on their income.
Once this family earns over $50,000 a year they lose six separate welfare allowances for their children, the main breadwinner loses some of his low income tax offset and his wife starts paying the Medicare Levy.
When combined with the tax they have to pay, the welfare clawback leaves this family worse off by $6.25 per week.
The Government has been moving slowly to reduce some of the worst effects of these tax and welfare disincentives for women to work.
Tax cuts and changes to the family tax benefit thresholds in the last two budgets have reduced effective tax rates for some two income families from 89 per cent to 71.67 per cent.
But clearly a lot more needs to be done.
Treasurer Peter Costello has boasted of wanting to make Australia the most female friendly country in the world.
With the Budget predicted to be in surplus by over $15 billion this year and $13 billion next year there could never be a better opportunity for some action on making the tax system female friendly.
But fixing the problem isn't going to be easy.
Professor Andrews's research showed cutting tax rates won't necessarily make much difference. One proposal that could help some families is to raise the tax free threshold from $6000 to $12,000.
Liberal MP Alan Cadman wants the Government to pay all families with children under five $4700 a year per child which they'd get whether mum worked or not.
The Treasurer has promised a family friendly budget but this research shows is that what we really need is a mother friendly budget.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-04 03:30 am (UTC)From:WTF is with that?
How do they sleep at night ffs?
no subject
Date: 2007-05-04 04:00 am (UTC)From: