In 1991, during a Parliamentary committee hearing into the tax practices of his then company, Consolidated Press, Packer famously said “If anybody in this country doesn’t minimise their tax they want their head read. As a government, I can tell you you’re not spending it that well that we should be paying extra.”

Does the same apply today? I would suggest so.

What bothers me most about the tone of the announcement and ensuing debate is the notion that higher income earning Australians are somehow rorting the system. That they are the fat cats of our society and therefore owe everyone else more.

When was the last time any Politician used the words “hard working Australian and wealthy in the same sentence”? I can’t recall. Typically, the hard-working Australians are those just surviving and the wealthy just got lucky and therefore owe everyone else. The fact is that those who earn more do so because, generally, they are working harder than average. Just about any successful person will tell you that the one key ingredient to their success is – old fashioned hard work!

“Successful” and “wealthy” can be applied to different people in varying situations. In the media, the perception is that the wealthy are the entitled few, born with silver spoons in their mouths and millions to their names without doing much to get there.

But more often than not, that’s just a convenient stereotype.

I also have a client with millions to her name, but unlike political perception, she is a widowed elderly European immigrant who lost her husband in her thirties. She worked multiple jobs from dawn till dusk, mainly cleaning services, to raise her three children to not go without. During their lives and hers, she was frugal and invested her savings wisely. Now in her mid 70’s, this lovely lady is classified as a millionaire and is entirely self-funded in retirement (she only stopped working two years ago).

My message to the politicians is this:
Within the OECD, Australia’s personal income tax as a percentage of total tax revenue is second only to Denmark’s*. The “wealthy” and everyone else for that matter have given you enough of their hard-earned money. Now do your job. Put it to good use. Stop wasting it. And stop asking for more.

Andrew Hewison is the Managing Director and financial advisor of Hewison Private Wealth.

Also commenting on this issue in the in the media is Director and Financial Advisor, Chris Morcom – in The Australian Financial Review (1/8/17, pg1).

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* Refer to OECD data