Former Australian PM Says Top Tax Bracket Too High

Paul Keating said the government needs to also control spending, pointing to major expenses like the NDIS.

Former prime minister Paul Keating waits for Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten at the Labor campaign launch at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre as part of the 2016 election campaign in Sydney, Australia on June 19, 2016. Mick Tsikas-Pool/Getty Images

Former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating says the top marginal personal tax rate in Australia of 45 percent is too high, describing anything over 39 percent as “confiscatory.”

“There’s an issue that all societies should have, of how much [of] a person’s conscientious efforts and wealth should be delivered to the state,” the former treasurer told the Australian Financial Review.