Condition
Who pays the income tax
What share of all personal income tax does each income group pay?
Who pays the income tax: −0.10 pts over the past year. The lowest level since 2019-20.
- Latest
- 16.8%
- Since the government took office
- Over the past year
- little changed−0.10 pts
Who pays the income tax
- Share of net tax
- Income years
- Top 1%
- Next 9% (top 2% to 10%)
- Middle 40%
- Bottom 50%
What this is
Everyone who paid income tax in a year, lined up from the lowest taxable income to the highest and split into groups. The chart shows what share of the total tax bill each group paid.
Why it matters
Income tax is the government's biggest source of revenue. Because the system is progressive, a small group of high earners pays a large share. Changes in who earns what, or who lives here, affect how much tax is collected and who pays it.
More from the figures
- In 2023-24 the top 1% of taxpayers was 132,399 people with taxable incomes of $429,531 or more. Together they paid about $55.3 billion of the $329.5 billion in personal income tax.
- The top 10% paid 43.7% of all personal income tax. The middle 40% paid 43.0%, and the bottom half of taxpayers paid 13.3%.
- The shares have changed little over the decade. The top 1% paid 17.0% in 2013-14 and 16.8% in 2023-24, with a high of 19.6% in 2021-22.
- The ATO does not publish how many high earners leave Australia each year, or how much tax they paid before leaving.
- These figures cover personal income tax only. Company tax, GST and other taxes are not included.
How it’s calculated
Net tax by taxable income percentile from ATO Taxation Statistics, Individuals Table 16A, for each income year from 2013-14 to 2023-24, added up across sexes and states. Percentiles rank taxable individuals by taxable income. Each group's share is its net tax divided by the net tax of all taxable individuals.