Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 29-Nov-22

In 2022, tax refunds for Australians with taxable income below $126,000 were expected to be between $675 and $1,500 – a $420 increase from previous years. The Taking the Pulse of the Nation Survey recently asked Australians how they would spend their expected tax refunds. The survey results indicated that about $515 (48%) of the refund was spent on consumption, $318 (27%) on savings and investment, and $246 (22%) on paying existing debts. The response to tax refunds varied with income: those with annual taxable income below $32,000 consumed 50 percent more of their refunds than those with annual taxable income above $100,000. Of interest is whether tax filers’ anticipated consumption coincided with their actual behaviour after the tax refund was received. There is remarkable consistency in what tax filers say they would do with the refund and what they did with it. Policy makers and business might be able to anticipate policy effects by gathering richer data from consumers. This report is based on a total of 2,000 respondents from data collected in May and October 2022. Visit the Melbourne Institute Taking the Pulse of the Nation web portal for further information and to access interactive charts and other findings: https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/data/ttpn.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH