Distributional national accounts for Australia, 1991–2018

Abstract

We produce estimates of the full distribution of all national income in Australia for the period 1991 to 2018, by combining household survey with administrative tax microdata and making adjustments to match National Accounts aggregates. We find that inequality of post-tax national income is lower and increased less than inequality of survey-based (post-transfer, disposable) income between 1991 and 2018. International comparisons reveal that Australian inequality is much lower than that of the United States, while it is similar to that of France, with those at the bottom of the income distribution faring noticeably better in France and Australia than in the US.