It would appear that women are, on average, net beneficiaries of the tax system in most western countries – and by a large margin.
Firstly the contribution to the government’s tax revenue paid by women is dwarfed by that amount contributed by men. This is a reflection, in part, of the gender pay (earnings) gap that feminists are forever banging on about. And for the uninitiated, that gap primarily reflects personal choices rather than active gender discrimination by employers.
Secondly, of that government expenditure that can be seen to benefit one gender over the other, women/girls do extremely well in comparison to government allocations to men/boys.
The discrepancy between the amount of tax revenue contributed by men in Australia, and the extent to which the government invests in agencies/programs supporting men & boys is addressed in another blog post.
This is the result of, and is reflected in, the level of utter difference or even contempt demonstrated by most politicians towards men and their issues.
I anticipate readers asking ‘well, ok then, point me to definitive statistics to support your assertion’. But, alas, that’s not as easy as it should be. Some statistics for other countries are referenced in the articles below (example), but in Australia one would have to compile such statistics from scratch. This would constitute an onerous task for anyone as I state in a post mentioned earlier. This data gap is no accident, for most politicians and bureaucrats either don’t care or would prefer such information to not be made available. Groups like the Australian Research Council should do something about it. I mean something positive. For a change.
The same situation applies in relation to exploring the gender divide for many other issues. If you seek data that supports a position of male culpability or female disadvantage, information abounds. With regards to examining alternative perspectives, however, the reverse applies. It was once a case of the relevant information being available but well-hidden. Now, more and more, researchers simply elect not to ask the relevant questions.
One indicator of the gender expenditure gap however is the large number of government and non-government organisations formulating policy and/or providing services to women and girls (in contrast to few/none for men/boys). See also these two posts in relation to funding for feminist advocacy groups (post #1 / post #2). The gender expenditure gap is now even reflected in Australia’s allocation towards foreign aid.
And yet despite this gender tax/support gap, this feminist scholar is probably not alone in proposing that women shouldn’t be taxed at all.
A selection of related articles/papers:
Women and wealth, by Bettina Arndt (19 August 2024)
Aussie women have revealed how much money they really have saved (22 November 2023)
The Malicious Lie of Women’s “Economic Inequality” (1 August 2022)
Inconvenient truths about impoverished women and privileged men, by Bettina Arndt (11 April 2021)
Coronavirus Australia: Blokes big winners under tax cut plan but women get screwed (16 September 2020) Oh, but let’s overlook a few issues that would undermine the feminist narrative …
Interesting and informative Twitter discussion thread regarding the male/female economy (9 April 2020) Contributors include @lesliejmarshall, @ABinning, and @AlastairHaines
Young women are turning their back on sharing wealth with their partner, survey reveals (22 July 2019) UK
Marriage is still the main way for women to get rich: study (21 February 2019)
Right-wing trolls report online sex workers to tax authorities in #ThotAudit (26 November 2018) Be sure to read all manner of initial outraged comments on Twitter, and then check out (for example) related threads by Roosh (@rooshv)
There are more female billionaires in the world, mostly thanks to inheritance (18 May 2018)
It’s true: Only men pay tax (27 April 2018)
The relationship between taxation and the Gender Pay Gap (17 November 2017)
India considers introducing a lower rate of tax for single women – and many other financial benefits (7 May 2017)
Jordan Holbrook: Men pay £75 billion more tax than women every year (28 March 2017)
2014/15 – the income tax gender gap increased again… to £75.5 BILLION (24 March 2017) UK
Men use retirement money 3x less but pay the same retirement taxes (5 March 2017) Reddit discussion thread
“The Lifetime Distribution of Health Care Costs” B. Alemayehu and KE Warner. Health Serv. Res. (2004) A March 2017 Reddit discussion thread and linked paper
Will You Pay The Bill For The Coming Spinster Bubble? (10 January 2017)
“Income and fiscal incidence by age and gender: some evidence from New Zealand” O. Aziz, N. Gemmell, and A. Laws, Review of Income and Wealth (2015) A November 2016 Reddit discussion thread and linked paper
Only men pay taxes (8 October 2016) Video
Reblog: Research find that as a group, only men pay tax (16 August 2016)
Research finds that as a group, only men pay tax (10 August 2016)
2012/13 – the income tax gender gap increased AGAIN… to £69,000,000,000 (20 June 2015)
The ‘Pole Tax’ on men is why I’m not voting tomorrow (6 May 2015) U.K
The ‘benefits gap’ — a cursory analysis of US social security (OASI) and disability insurance (DI) An October 2014 Reddit discussion thread with links to relevant Social Security Administration data sources
Women’s share of income tax payments declines (2011/12 v 2010/11) (20 August 2014)
Divorce helps fuel rise in female multi-millionaires (19 May 2014)
The distribution of income and fiscal incidence by age and gender: Some evidence from New Zealand (7 January 2014)
Are women paying 60% less income tax than men? (8 February 2013)
It’s true: only men pay tax (undated) by Janet Bloomfield
The Female Economy
Feminists rage about the desperate personal privations that women suffer a result of the gender wage gap, whilst demanding all manner of financial support. At the same time, however, others gloat (without a hint of irony) about the financial strength of women collectively. Go figure.
Charlotte Ree on ‘two conditions’ her husband set before marriage (10 June 2023) Now swap the genders – she wouldn’t be controlling. She would be brave and fair and responsible.
The female economy: Untapped market worth $28 trillion (29 November 2017)
Women in the Economy II – How Implementing a Women’s Economic Empowerment Agenda Can Shape the Global Economy (2017) A report by Citi
The next economic boom could come from women (12 September 2017)
Men or Women: Who Has the Most Buying Power and Why? (13 March 2014)
Marketing to Women: Surprising Stats Show Purchasing Power & Influence (27 July 2012)
The Female Economy (September 2009) and She-conomy (April 2010)
Women want more: How to capture your share of the world’s largest, fastest growing market (September 2009)
