We're about to lose 20% of our income - VENT

[Ember]

Due to changes to the Australian tax laws, as of July 1st we're going to be losing 20% of our take home pay.

Right now we are entitled to something called LAFHA (living away from home allowance). It's a tax benefit for certain visa holders who are on sponsored, skilled work visas. It was one the the benefits touted to work here as a skilled worked for under four years. Only the government has decided to axe it, leaving us with a 20% pay cut.

I'm feeling very frustrated right now. I know it's not the fault of the university that hired DH, but it's still makes me angry. Today, for one of the first times since we arrived, I want to go home to Canada.

 

[Stephanie218]

I'm so sorry - that is incredibly frustrating to move somewhere based on your pay calculations and then have them change.

As a side note, have you enjoyed living in Australia? Is the cost of living much higher there? We are looking into a possible move there and have been trying to compare the financials as much as possible.

 

[averysmom]

Yuck! Does that mean you have to pay Austrailian income tax AND Canadian income tax?

 

[BLAZEY]

Mys sister went to Australia to get her Masters degree to be a speech and language pathologist , and the University was encouraging them to get jobs in the more rural areas of Australia. My sister too one look at the rates of pay vs cost of living, and headed home to Canada. she would get 2x the pay with a lower cost of living, to work in Victoria BC, and actually would get a rural supplement to work up north. She had her pick of a quite a few jobs when she came home.

 

[mama2ella]

no advice but I do want to offer my support..I hope you will be able to figure something out that works for your family

 

[Ember]

As a side note, have you enjoyed living in Australia? Is the cost of living much higher there? We are looking into a possible move there and have been trying to compare the financials as much as possible.

I am enjoying it, for the most part. It's been a struggle to find a job, and I'm now teaching casually. They are not happy to hire non-residents and often won't even look beyond that. I've had phone calls that were going great until they heard I was here on a visa, and then the call ended abruptly with the comment, "We only want someone permanent."

DH, of course, didn't have this issue as it was his career that brought us here. We are able to live on his income, so me finding work immediately wasn't a big deal. But it's definitely something I keep in mind when considering the move.

The cost of living here is outlandish, if I'm going to be honest. For comparison, Manhattan, the 46th most expensive city to live in globally, Sydney is the 6th or 7th most expensive (depending on whose calculations you're using).

While I am thrilled to be here short-term, this is not somewhere I would choose to live permanently.

That probably makes things sound more negative than positive, which is not what I intend. (Although, to be fair, I'm also not feeling very happy with Australia at the moment...) This has been an amazing opportunity and I'm very glad we took it.

 

[Evi]

I would encourage your husband to contact the university and see if they would be able to split the difference with you since its not something you could have known would happen and it will definitely effect your standard of living. The worse that could happen is they say no but maybe they will say yes.

 

[Ember]

I would encourage your husband to contact the university and see if they would be able to split the difference with you since its not something you could have known would happen and it will definitely effect your standard of living. The worse that could happen is they say no but maybe they will say yes.

I will mention it to him. Wages at the university for academic staff are all according to an agreement, so I'm not sure there's much wiggle room, but you're right in that it can't hurt to ask.

It's also not definite that this will go through, and apparently we'll know more in about a month. The letter we received was more to put us on notice that it could happen, not that is has. (DH didn't mention this bit when he first called to tell me about it...) Because of the effects on big business - who are the main importers of skilled labour - there may still be lobbying against it and all 9 universities in Sydney are joining to protest the changes. I'm not counting on them defeating the proposal, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[becpee]

Due to changes to the Australian tax laws, as of July 1st we're going to be losing 20% of our take home pay.

Right now we are entitled to something called LAFHA (living away from home allowance). It's a tax benefit for certain visa holders who are on sponsored, skilled work visas. It was one the the benefits touted to work here as a skilled worked for under four years. Only the government has decided to axe it, leaving us with a 20% pay cut.

I'm feeling very frustrated right now. I know it's not the fault of the university that hired DH, but it's still makes me angry. Today, for one of the first times since we arrived, I want to go home to Canada.

Amounts to a 20% pay cut i'm really unhappy with pretty much everything they're doing right now.
I'd love to see Julia take a 20% pay cut, didn't her's just go up by about $100k?
I fully get why you're angry, greedy government

 

[Ember]

Amounts to a 20% pay cut i'm really unhappy with pretty much everything they're doing right now.
I'd love to see Julia take a 20% pay cut, didn't her's just go up by about $100k?
I fully get why you're angry, greedy government

Yeah, LAFHA accounts for a little shy of 20% of our take home pay. If the change goes through we will seriously be considering cutting our time here short and moving on.

 

[becpee]

Yeah, LAFHA accounts for a little shy of 20% of our take home pay. If the change goes through we will seriously be considering cutting our time here short and moving on.

I don't blame you

But how disappointing to have to leave because of something like that

 

[Ember]

The university has announced that a general meeting on Monday to address some of this issues this could pose. Apparently it affects a number of the academic staff - which doesn't surprise me. Academia tends to involve a good deal of travel and international exchanges. So hopefully we'll have a clearer idea of where things stand first thing next week.

 

[Natalie's Mommy]

that sucks im really sorry

 

[sookie]

I just wanted to say I'm sorry and that is really awful. Would it be worth it family wise to move back to Canada? Would you make more money and be able to see family?
Sorry you are going through this.