In both cases, there were very minor increases in the total number of taxpayers. Nearby areas such as Balnarring and Red Hill also recorded large rises in income, even as total taxpayer numbers remained stable. Portsea retained its position in the national 10 highest-paid postcodes at almost $221,867.
The lift in incomes was not driven by improved salaries but by better flows of income from investments and business profits.
Residents in these postcodes also paid a large share of tax. Residents of Double Bay paid an average of $177,456 in income tax.
Australians paid almost $267 billion in income tax through 2021-22, or more than 50 per cent of all taxes paid in the year. While accounting for just 5 per cent of income earners, people earning more than $180,000 paid 40 per cent, or $107 billion, of all income tax.
The best-paid occupations all found themselves in the top income tax bracket.
The nation’s 4170 surgeons were paid, on average, $460,356 in 2021-22 – a $3000 increase on the previous year – while 3535 anaesthetists enjoyed an average income of $431,193.
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The recovery in financial markets translated into large income bumps for workers in that sector. Financial dealers’ average income rose by almost $32,000 to $373,733, while the nation’s 20,207 financial advisers’ average income increased by 9.6 per cent to $185,834.
The figures confirmed the impact of the Morrison government’s COVID-19 policy of allowing people to tap into their superannuation accounts. The average superannuation balance fell by $6000 to $164,000, while the median balance slipped from $60,000 to just under $58,000.
The data also showed the steep fall in official interest rates during the pandemic transformed the financial outcomes of the nation’s landlords.
Since the introduction of the concession on capital gains tax by then-treasurer Peter Costello in the late 1990s, landlords have consistently lost money on their investments. In 2018-19, they lost $3 billion.
But in 2021-22, the nation’s landlords collectively recorded net income of $6 billion from their properties. It was the single largest return to landlords on record.
This was largely due to the collapse in interest rates on property loans, which fell to $15.9 billion in 2021-22. Before the pandemic in 2018-19, when the cash rate averaged 1.5 per cent, net interest costs for landlords were $24 billion.
Of the 2.3 million rental owners, 1.6 million held a single property. They made a collective profit of $2.9 billion compared with a loss of $1.4 billion before the pandemic.
There were 2582 landlords with at least 10 properties. They made a collective $65 million on their investments.
Australian landlords have benefited from falling interest rates, with a record $6 billion in net returns.Credit: Oscar Colman
The figures also revealed the growth of trusts, through which income is channelled by an increasing number of Australians.
There were almost 1 million trusts across the country by 2021-22, up 6 per cent on the 928,000 in 2019-20. Total income through the trusts soared by 15 per cent over the same period to $460 billion.
There were $2.7 trillion in assets held through trusts, offsetting $1.6 trillion in liabilities.
While the share of personal income tax is heavily borne by high-income earners, the company tax structure relies on just a handful of businesses.
Companies paid a total of $128.1 billion in tax, an increase of $20 billion on 2020-21. While businesses with a turnover of at least $250 million accounted for just 0.1 per cent of all companies, they paid 62.5 per cent of all company tax.
Almost all of those businesses were either in the mining or banking sectors.
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