Most Australians believe they pay the right amount of tax, and an overwhelming majority would prefer to pay more if it meant better health and aged care services, a pre-election survey has found.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The latest Per Capita tax survey finds 64 per cent would pay more tax for better health and aged care, up 12 percentage points from last year. Almost half of those surveyed said they would pay a higher tax to get better schools, universities and technical education colleges, up 9 points from last year.
About 43 per cent said the would be willing to pay more tax in return for higher economic growth, up 13 points from last year.
Per Capita executive director David Hetherington described the results as "remarkable" and said the past year had clearly seen a big increase in voters' willingness to pay for services.
"A significant share of the population appears to understand the links between their tax contributions, government tax receipts and the types of public spending that sustain economic growth," he said.
Asked what he thought had driven the change, he referred to the Commonwealth's decision to remove $80 billion from the states' health and education budgets over a decade and "inflammatory rhetoric about a budget crisis".
"Citizens see where services are heading and acknowledge they would be willing to pay more in tax to avoid further deterioration.
"Another powerful driver is the regular drumbeat of headlines about the share of tax paid by the wealthiest in our society. Eighty-three per cent of respondents say the corporate tax avoidance affects the overall fairness of the tax system, up 3 points from last year."
The results echo those of the Australian National University election survey, which this year found about 80 per cent of people believe large Australian companies pay too little tax and that most would prefer more spending on health and Medicare to tax cuts.
On Friday, the Australian Greens will unveil a series of "budget principles", including a "millionaires tax". Greens Treasury spokesman Adam Bandt said tax had to be made more equal, "starting at the top".
