Your tax receipt, explained simply

Your tax receipt

How much tax do you pay, and where does it go?

Australia’s income tax works in slices. The first slice of your income is tax-free, the next is taxed at a low rate, and only the top slice of a high income is taxed at the top rate. A pay rise never leaves you with less money after tax.

Move the slider to your income to see your own slices, and how your tax is shared across what the federal government spends on.

Your taxable income for the year$85,000

Income tax and Medicare levy: $17,720; $341 a week
Share of your income: 20.8%; your average rate
On your next dollar: 32c; your marginal rate, incl. Medicare levy

How your income is taxed, slice by slice

You don’t pay your top rate on everything. Each slice of income is taxed at its own rate.

$18,200 at 0% = $0
$26,800 at 15% = $4,020
$40,000 at 30% = $12,000

Where your $17,720 goes

Your tax, shared out the way the 2026-27 Budget shares out all federal spending.

Social security & welfare	$6,566	$126/wk
Health	$2,912	$56/wk
Payments to states (mainly GST)	$2,362	$45/wk
Education	$1,220	$23/wk
Defence	$1,107	$21/wk
Interest on government debt	$678	$13/wk
Everything else	$2,876	$55/wk

These tools are simplified on purpose so the idea is clear. Tax figures use the current resident rates, the low income tax offset and the Medicare levy; they leave out other offsets, HELP repayments and the Medicare levy surcharge. They are not financial advice.