New analysis from The Australia Institute has found that the Government’s income tax changes announced in the Budget will disproportionately advantage men over women, both now and into the future.

Men will receive three in every five dollars of tax benefit in this financial year and then seven in every 10 dollars of the benefit from next year onwards, due to the way the Government has chosen to shape the reforms.

Key findings:

• In 2020-21, 60% of the benefit from the Government’s tax plan will go to men, while women will receive 40%.
• In 2021-22, 69% of the benefit from the Government’s tax plan will go to men, while women will receive just 31%.

• Those new tax settings, that deliver a greater benefit to men than women, will then be in place permanently.

“Because high income earners are disproportionately male in Australia, if you give rich Australians a tax cut, the majority of the benefit will flow directly to men over women,” said Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at The Australia Institute.

“Women have been hit the hardest by the COVID recession, in terms of economic impact and job losses, but the Government has designed its tax changes in a way that will benefit men by a factor of more than two to one from next year onwards.

“First we’ve seen jobs for the boys, in the form of spending in male dominated industries such as construction, and now women are being left behind with the Government’s tax plan for the wealthy.

“Giving tax cuts to high income Australians will have a very limited stimulatory effect on the broader economy, but it will significantly widen the economic divide that already exists between men and women in this country.”