Cottesloe's richest rank at risk
The well-paid residents of Cottesloe and Peppermint Grove are in danger of losing their mantle as living in WA's richest postcode.
Australian Taxation Office figures out today show average taxable income in the suburbs fell more than $4000 in the 2012-13 financial year.
Despite the hit to incomes, the 6610 residents of postcode 6011 kept their position as being in one of the country's 10 best-paid suburbs, with an average income of $142,504.
Only Sydney's exclusive Point Piper ($177,514) and Bellevue Hill ($143,112) and the Victorian village of St Andrews ($143,112) boasted higher incomes. Although Peppermint Grove incomes went backward, it was a different story just down the road in Nedlands, Crawley and Dalkeith, where mean incomes grew almost $8000 to reach an all-time high of $124,266.
For the first time there were eight postcodes across WA with mean taxable incomes of more than $100,000. The biggest jump was in North Fremantle, where mean incomes rose to $102,101 from $91,215. While incomes were rising for some of the richest parts of WA, they were falling in the poorest areas. The 320 people who submitted a tax return in the Narrikup area near Albany reported a mean taxable income of just $31,576. It was a $916 or near 3 per cent fall on incomes from 2011-12.
In nearby Cranbrook incomes also fell to just $33,322.
The ATO figures also reveal WA's best paid workers are not miners. The mean taxable income of WA's 339 surgeons was a record-breaking $436,998. The next best paid group, the State's 337 anaesthetists, earned a mean taxable income of $334,246 each.
Other well paid occupations include financial dealers ($219,213) and judges and lawyers ($192,189).
The figures also show West Australians lost almost $1 billion on their rental properties through the year. While earning $4.6 billion in rental income, WA landlords claimed $3.1 billion in interest deductions plus another $2.5 billion in upkeep and capital work.
