Anglicare Australia has launched a report showing that Australia’s tax system is fuelling wealth inequality.
Widening the Gap looks at trends in wealth inequality over the past twenty years and finds that:
- The wealthiest Australians hold 90 times the wealth of those with the least
- This has been fuelled by tax breaks for superannuation and housing investments
- High house prices have fuelled inequality and locked many people out of housing and financial security.
“Australia is becoming more unfair and more unequal. Our research shows that the wealthiest Australians now have 90 times more than wealth than those with the least – and that gap is widening every year,” said Executive Director Kasy Chambers.
“Our research also shows that inequality has been turbocharged by tax breaks that help people who are already wealthy build big superannuation balances, property portfolios, and investments.
“We should be using our tax system to make Australia fairer. Instead, Government policies are driving inequality and making it worse. The good news is that we know what needs to be done to turn this around.
“We are calling on the Government to wind back generous superannuation concessions for people who don’t need them, and focus instead on helping people on low incomes build their retirement savings.
“We’re calling on them to wind back housing tax breaks that have pushed housing costs up to record highs. Capital Gains Tax discounts and negative gearing deductions are being used to build wealth for investors, instead of being used to boost social housing.
“And we’re calling on them to tax income from investments fairly. People who earn income from work are paying more tax than people who earn income from their wealth. That needs to change if we want to make our tax system fairer.
“Making these changes is about stopping inequality from getting worse, protecting our community from disunity, and restoring the faith of Australians that Government can work for them.”
Widening the Gap is part of Anglicare Australia’s Australia Fair research series.