School principals and police officers are more likely to own a negatively geared investment property than lawyers and doctors, new figures from the tax office show.
More than one in four principals own a negatively geared rental property. Photo: Bloomberg
The figures also show nearly three in 10 surgeons and anaesthetists negatively gear an investment property, among the highest proportion for any occupation.
But there is one occupation that has even greater enthusiasm owning an investment property - policy and planning managers.
There are nearly 26,000 people who listed this as their primary employment to the tax office in 2014-15, and 7528 of them own an investment property.
The detailed Australian Tax Office data released this week provides a breakdown of the number of taxpayers from more than 450 occupations, who are also landlords.
More than one in four principals and pilots are landlords, who negatively gear their investment property.
Just over one in five police officers are also negative gearers:
The 20 occupations with the highest proportion of negative gearers
- Accountants 22%
- Air Transport Professionals 25%
- Anaesthetists 29%
- Commissioned Officers (Management) 27%
- Dental Practitioners 22%
- Electrical Engineers 21%
- Engineering Managers 23%
- Finance Managers 21%
- Human Resource Managers 23%
- ICT Managers 22%
- Internal Medicine Specialists 26%
- Mining Engineers 24%
- Other Building and Engineering Technicians 22%
- Other Hospitality, Retail and Service Managers 21%
- Police 22%
- Policy and Planning Managers 29%
- Psychiatrists 23%
- School Principals 27%
- Senior Non-commissioned Defence Force Members 28%
- Surgeons 29%
Data: Australian Taxation Office
Going further down the list, about one in ten plumbers, librarians, journalists, bus drivers and priests own a negatively geared property.
Apprentices were unsurprisingly the least likely to have a stake in the property market. Of Australia's 3653 trainee hairdressers, just 25 were negatively-geared landlords.
Among the people least likely to own a negatively-geared investment property are waiters, baristas, kitchen hands and checkout operators.
Occupations with a low proportion of negative gearers
- Fast Food Cooks 1%
- Waiters 2%
- Bar Attendants and Baristas 2%
- Aquaculture Workers 2%
- Kitchenhands 2%
- Checkout Operators and Office Cashiers 2%
- Cafe Workers 2%
- Meat, Poultry and Seafood Process Workers 2%
- Meat Boners and Slicers, and Slaughterers 3%
- Shelf Fillers 3%
- Packers 3%
- Garden and Nursery Labourers 3%
- Domestic Cleaners 3%
- Livestock Farm Workers 4%
- Commercial Cleaners 4%
- Cooks 4%
- Sales Assistants 4%
- Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals 4%
- Outdoor Adventure Guides 4%
- Delivery Drivers 4%
Source: Australian Taxation Office.
Earlier this week, Treasurer Scott Morrison said there were about 2 million landlords in Australia, of which 1.3 million were negatively geared.
He said two thirds of those who negatively gear their investments have a taxable income of $80,000 or less.
In his speech to the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Mr Morrison ruled out any changes to negative gearing in May's Federal Budget.
"Regardless of your opinion about negative gearing and its merits otherwise, it is an indisputable fact that it is an established structural component of Australia's housing market," he said.
"Disrupting negative gearing on the scale that is proposed by many would not come without a cost, especially to renters."
Article Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
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