Average equivalised disposable household income
It is very difficult to find a consistent approach regarding a formula of current household earnings over the past 4 decades. Especially when the mix of household numbers has varied over time and the mixes can be very different. For example - 2 adults, 1 child. 3 adults. 1 adult, 2 children. And then adding the endless assessment differences on spending habits and appetite, and cultural influences.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics latest release on the topic is the 2020tax year. This shows the Average equivalised disposable household income was $1,124 per week. On the higher end of the scale, the median income after taxes was $1,670 per week.
Equivalised total household income being the net of tax household income adjusted by the application of an equivalence scale to facilitate comparison of income levels between households of differing size and composition, reflecting that a larger household would normally need more income than a smaller household to achieve the same standard of living. More details can be found here on the calculation. https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs
Average equivalised disposable household income is known to grow only slightly every year, with somewhat a relationship with inflation trends. 2 years prior in 2017–18 it was $1,094 per week. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/finance/household-income-and-wealth-australia/latest-release.
https://www.savvy.com.au/media-releases/average-australian-household-income-report/
2023 and 1990 - who was taxed more?
The closest readily available data to this test which can be used as a secondary benchmark ongoing from back in 1990 is Average after-tax income.
https://www.ato.gov.au/Rates/Individual-income-tax-for-prior-years/
Earlier in the report we evidenced from 9 News data showed ratios based on $27,227 take home income.
In 2023. https://paycalculator.com.au/ tax was 2% less.
So a 2% shift in income tax is a positive move to the average population income from 1990 to today. But we have since introduction many other taxes, the most costly being the 10% tax (GST) on a majority of goods and services. So on a tax home bases we are worse off today.