Australia taxes income progressively: you don't pay one rate on your whole income, you pay a higher rate only on the slice of income above each threshold. Earning a little more never leaves you worse off overall, no matter what the "moving into a higher bracket" myth suggests. Here is exactly how it works, with the numbers that apply from 1 July 2026.
How progressive tax actually works
Your income is sliced into bands, and each band is taxed at its own rate. Only the slice sitting inside a bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate, everything below it was already taxed at the lower rates on the way up. Your marginal rate is the rate on your next dollar, not the rate on all of it, and your average rate, what you actually hand over as a share of total income, is always lower.
Earning a little more never leaves you worse off overall, despite the common myth about "moving into a higher bracket."
- Myth: a pay rise pushes your whole income into the next bracket. Only the amount above the threshold is taxed at the higher rate; every dollar below it stays exactly as taxed as before.
- Myth: a raise can leave you with less take-home pay. Under a marginal system that's not possible; an extra dollar earned is always an extra dollar kept, just not all of it.
- Myth: everyone on your bracket pays the same overall rate. Two people in the same top bracket can have very different average rates, since the lower slices are taxed the same for both.
The 2026-27 tax brackets (residents)
The first slice of income, the tax-free threshold, is taxed at nil. From 1 July 2026 the second bracket dropped from 16% to 15% (legislated), so most workers pay a little less than the year before.
The tax-free threshold. No income tax at all on this slice, for every resident taxpayer.
Each dollar above the threshold is taxed at the rate for the bracket it falls in, rising in steps as you earn more.
On top of income tax: the Medicare levy
Most residents also pay the Medicare levy of 2% of taxable income, phased in gently above a low-income threshold so it doesn't bite all at once. Higher earners without an appropriate level of private hospital cover pay an extra Medicare Levy Surcharge of 1–1.5%, which you can avoid by taking out hospital cover.
The Low Income Tax Offset (LITO)
LITO reduces the tax of lower-income earners by up to $700, phasing out as income rises until it's gone by around $66,667. It's an offset, not a refund: it can bring your tax down to zero, but never below it.
A worked example
On a $90,000 salary as a resident in 2026-27, income tax works out to roughly $17,500, plus about $1,800 Medicare levy, leaving around $70,700 take-home, an effective rate near 21%. Your marginal rate, the tax on your next dollar, is 30%.
Not a resident for tax?
Foreign residents and working-holiday makers sit outside all of the above. They use different rates entirely:
You declare your own residency status on the calculator, and it switches the whole rate set for you.
The bottom line
Progressive tax means every extra dollar you earn is always kept, just not all of it, and only the slice above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate. Know your bracket, factor in the Medicare levy, and check whether LITO applies, and you'll know exactly what a raise, a bonus or a pay cut actually does to your take-home pay.
Enter your salary for an exact 2026-27 estimate: tax, Medicare, LITO and take-home pay.
Related: how HECS repayments work · HECS calculator. General information only, not tax advice. Check the ATO for your situation.