Australians working as head and neck surgeons are typically paid more than the Prime Minister, new tax office figures show.
A small number of specialist surgeons, who operate on the brain, ear, nose and throat, have even higher earnings than Anthony Albanese on $564,356.
Neurosurgeons had the highest average taxable income of $604,582 in the 2020-21 financial year, based on their total salary and bonuses minus work deductions.
The nation’s 182 brain surgeons, including 29 women, comprise the only profession where typical pay exceeds $600,000.
Australia’s highest paid profession on average – with Charlie Teo among them – had a big gender pay gap with men typically earning $655,149, compared with $337,797 for women.
Ear, nose and throat surgeons – formally known as otorhinolaryngologists – typically earned $577,568.
Australians working as head and neck surgeons are typically paid more than the Prime Minister, new tax office figures show (pictured: stock image of a plastic surgeon with a patient)
Proving that working on the head does pay, plastic and reconstructive surgeons were well-remunerated on $568,439.
They made more than those operating on the heart, with cardiologists on $507,684.
To be among Australia’s top 0.8 per cent of income earners requires a taxable income of $377,553, with just 117,011 people in this position out of 15,134,189 income taxpayers.
This is more than double the top marginal tax bracket of $180,000, where the 45 per cent tax rate kicks in, before rising to $200,000 on July 1, 2024, when the stage three tax cuts start.
That meant gynaecologists, who specialise in women’s health, scraped into the top one per cent with an average taxable income of $398,888.
But this was well below that for urologists on $527,844, with men’s reproductive health a much more lucrative profession.
A small number of specialist surgeons, who operate on the brain, ear, nose and throat, have even higher earnings than Anthony Albanese on $564,356 (the Prime Minister is pictured right with his girlfriend Jodie Haydon)
Treating erectile dysfunction and diagnosing prostate cancer is more financially rewarding than operating on the back with orthopaedic surgeons making $502,927, compared with vascular surgeons on $477,280.
Cardiothoracic surgeons, who specialise in the heart and lungs, made $461,185.
This put them ahead of gastroenterologists, who specialise in the digestive system, on $458,794.
That meant Nationals MP David Gillespie, a gastroenterologist from 1991 to 2013, took a pay cut to get into politics, with federal backbenchers in Parliament paid a base salary of $217,060 based on a 2022 Remuneration Tribunal ruling.
Neurosurgeons had the highest average taxable income of $604,582 in the 2020-21 financial year, based on their total salary and bonuses minus work deductions (pictured is Dr Charlie Teo)
Gastroenterologists made even more than anaesthetists on $426,894 who sedate patients before an operation.
They made more than cancer doctors administering chemotherapy, with radiation oncologists typically earning $353,274.
These doctors were paid slightly more than intensive care specialists on $340,598 and finance dealers on $341,798.
General practitioners had an average taxable income of $158,475, with doctors in short supply in regional areas as more Australians studying medicine choose to become more highly-paid specialists.
Surgeons in general had an average taxable income of $457,281 – almost triple the level for suburban and country GPs who barely made more than school principals on $136,525, bank managers on $144,560 and dentists on $155,049.
