# Is 70K enough for an individual in Melbourne?



## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

I have a job offer from a Melbourne company for 70K Salary Package. I am guessing (tried calculating on ATO website which is very confusing) my take home would be around 4000K per month. Am I calculating it right? I will be on 457 visa. Is that mount enough for a single to survive comfortably in Melbourne area or should I try to negotiate? I have just 2 years of IT experience, I don't know if I have much room for negotiation.


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## gemaltu (Sep 19, 2010)

ricks1088 said:


> I have a job offer from a Melbourne company for 70K Salary Package. I am guessing (tried calculating on ATO website which is very confusing) my take home would be around 4000K per month. Am I calculating it right? I will be on 457 visa. Is that mount enough for a single to survive comfortably in Melbourne area or should I try to negotiate? I have just 2 years of IT experience, I don't know if I have much room for negotiation.


Yes u have god oppuyunity....avail it

My application also underprocess....in network
can you tell me ,from which ,we can get jobs offers


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

I have got the job through Finite Recruitment. Sorry cannot disclose the client name.


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## gemaltu (Sep 19, 2010)

gemaltu said:


> Yes u have god oppuyunity....avail it
> 
> My application also underprocess....in network
> can you tell me ,from which ,we can get jobs offers


thanks.....can i know ur email plz?


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## Andrew James (Nov 6, 2010)

gemaltu said:


> thanks.....can i know ur email plz?


Hi, 

$70k isn't bad as far as I'm aware. See what living away from home allowances they will provide as part of that (reduces taxable pay from an Australian perspective), just be aware that the whole lot (including your superannuation contributions) will be taxable in the US and potentially the state you are moving from.

Best,

Andrew


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

Thanks for your reply Andrew I don't know a whole lot about living away from home allowance but I will research and check with them.


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## Weebie (Sep 16, 2009)

70k is ok. It's liveable but that's about it. With two years experience in IT it's about right though.


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

Thanks for your input weebie! I am just hoping a decent life style in 70k not really a luxurious one. Just wanted to see if tht is wat 2 yrs of IT experience shud expect.


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## Sundeep (Apr 26, 2011)

Hi,
Planning to move to Melbourne in July. I have around 10+ yrs experience in IT. Experience in Sybase/ SQL Reporting / VBA... 

Can you please let me know the job opportunities based on my profile in Melbourne and what would be the salary range..


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

Hey Sundeep,

If you do a search on online job portals (Seek, careerone, Hays etc) entering your key skills in the search box, you will be able to see how many jobs are posted for that skill. For example, I did a search on Sybase and got 1574 jobs on Seek. Such postings will give you a rough idea about the market and salary. Also you can refer to Hays Salary Guide. HTH.


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

and with that salary, I don't think you even have to worry about paying american taxes :humble:


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## Guest (May 6, 2011)

stormgal said:


> and with that salary, I don't think you even have to worry about paying american taxes :humble:


The highest OZ rate is 45% Individual income tax rates whereas 51% Americans aren't even paying taxes: Over Half of Households Paid No Income Taxes


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## lisecnz (Mar 4, 2010)

Hi Sundeep

70k seems reasonable to me! To calculate the cost of living for this area, try using this calculator australia-migration dot com/page/Cost_of_Living_calculator/95

Sorry about the non-direct link, I'm unable to post websits as yet, but you get the idea!

Many thanks
Lise


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

Well, I don't know why we started discussing US taxes in this thread but I don't need to worry about it. I am not a citizen or Green Card holder of US of A. Also, I negotiated my package with my employer and its no more 70K


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

lisecnz said:


> Hi Sundeep
> 
> 70k seems reasonable to me! To calculate the cost of living for this area, try using this calculator australia-migration dot com/page/Cost_of_Living_calculator/95
> 
> ...


Thanks, that was my question


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

ausimmi said:


> The highest OZ rate is 45% Individual income tax rates whereas 51% Americans aren't even paying taxes: Over Half of Households Paid No Income Taxes



Ok, so you took an Aussie Government's website on income taxes and matched it with an article that was written by some random newspaper...


If I wanted to be defensive, I'd post this:

Tax Withholding

and

Record number of Australians pay no tax - UPI.com


This is just to show how anyone can find any article on the net ...

In any case, any average joe who works can't avoid paying taxes as taxes are taken directly out of your paycheck, and income is reported to the government by the employer at the end of the year. The people who are not paying taxes are obviously the very rich who are probably hiring sneaky accountants to mitigate their dues, or the unemployed/ and or poor whose benefits have run out so they can't pay taxes...

I took my current salary and calculated it using the australian tax system (that was posted here) to see more or less how much more I'd have to pay assuming I make the same in Oz, (if I ever go) - and can you believe that my take home pay came out to the same amount?? 

Then again, I'm single without dependents so you can already imagine the milking average middle class people have to put up with.


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## Guest (May 6, 2011)

stormgal said:


> Ok, so you took an Aussie Government's website on income taxes and matched it with an article that was written by some random newspaper...
> 
> 
> If I wanted to be defensive, I'd post this:
> ...



Actually, I didn't quote a random news story. I first read this either on CNN/Yahoo news some weeks ago, couldn't remember where the original one was, so searched the net for the same thing. From my previous reading, I am sure the article is recounting the same things.

The OZ link you have posted is from 2008. The Australian government is EXTREMELY quick to react to any negative trends it sees. I would think - but it would be nice if someone from Australia would confirm - that the government would have made changes to avoid such a situation by now.

Did you convert your American dollars to Aussie dollars at the current rate before making the tax calculation??? It is NOTfair to say that families would be 'milked' more. There are 1001 tax holidays in the tax code for families. You get around 1000/1500 credit for raising a kid, there are tax breaks for mortgages, there were tax breaks for green cars - I read somewhere that the government is considering the step of removing all tax breaks, and bringing everyone into the tax net - thus lowering the highest income tax bracket. Again, I forget where I read this, but I use CNN and Yahoo as my major news sources. And this consideration of the government just goes on to show how much tax credit Americans get in general.


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

ausimmi said:


> Actually, I didn't quote a random news story. I first read this either on CNN/Yahoo news some weeks ago, couldn't remember where the original one was, so searched the net for the same thing. From my previous reading, I am sure the article is recounting the same things.
> 
> The OZ link you have posted is from 2008. The Australian government is EXTREMELY quick to react to any negative trends it sees. I would think - but it would be nice if someone from Australia would confirm - that the government would have made changes to avoid such a situation by now.
> 
> Did you convert your American dollars to Aussie dollars at the current rate before making the tax calculation??? It is NOTfair to say that families would be 'milked' more. There are 1001 tax holidays in the tax code for families. You get around 1000/1500 credit for raising a kid, there are tax breaks for mortgages, there were tax breaks for green cars - I read somewhere that the government is considering the step of removing all tax breaks, and bringing everyone into the tax net - thus lowering the highest income tax bracket. Again, I forget where I read this, but I use CNN and Yahoo as my major news sources. And this consideration of the government just goes on to show how much tax credit Americans get in general.



I agree that on average, we probably pay less taxes than other countries do, but that is quickly changing. Plus you get what you pay for. 

When I mentioned "milking", I meant to the average "middle class" worker - and even worse for those of us who don't have any children. The government has a field day with us - they think that just because we don't have any children, that we have all sorts of money to spend. I wind up paying more taxes at the end of the year, while all the people who have children wind up getting all sorts of credits. But then again, I once complained about this very subject to an Australian girlfriend I had, and she said that singles are also penalized while people who have children are giving a big fat paycheck.


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## armandra (Nov 27, 2009)

stormgal said:


> I agree that on average, we probably pay less taxes than other countries do, but that is quickly changing. Plus you get what you pay for.
> 
> When I mentioned "milking", I meant to the average "middle class" worker - and even worse for those of us who don't have any children. The government has a field day with us - they think that just because we don't have any children, that we have all sorts of money to spend. I wind up paying more taxes at the end of the year, while all the people who have children wind up getting all sorts of credits. But then again, I once complained about this very subject to an Australian girlfriend I had, and she said that singles are also penalized while people who have children are giving a big fat paycheck.


So you basically saying you don't have children and you've got a girlfriend in Australia? Wonder what can be inferred from that?!! 

Just kidding 


armandra!


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

armandra said:


> So you basically saying you don't have children and you've got a girlfriend in Australia? Wonder what can be inferred from that?!!
> 
> Just kidding
> 
> ...


 oh no, I'm straight! 

I know, I know - you just had to say it, didn't you!


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## Guest (May 6, 2011)

The thing is, ricks1088 is always quick to point out if I am posting off topic, but I have yet to see him cribbing about stormgal's off topic posts


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

ausimmi said:


> The thing is, ricks1088 is always quick to point out if I am posting off topic, but I have yet to see him cribbing about stormgal's off topic posts



Here just to make you happy, Stormgal you are off the topic!!!!

btw I am a girl


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## Guest (May 6, 2011)

ricks1088 said:


> Here just to make you happy, Stormgal you are off the topic!!!!
> 
> btw I am a girl


Whoooooops!!!!!!!!!!!!! You wouldn't happen to be stormgal's Australian girlfriend would you??????


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

ausimmi said:


> Whoooooops!!!!!!!!!!!!! You wouldn't happen to be stormgal's Australian girlfriend would you??????


you guys must be so bored at work or home today... maybe DIAC should update everyone's status so we can have something normal to talk about


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## ricks1088 (Mar 10, 2011)

ausimmi said:


> Whoooooops!!!!!!!!!!!!! You wouldn't happen to be stormgal's Australian girlfriend would you??????


I have a boyfriend and he is from Peshawar, Pakistan 

 Back to Topic!!!!


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## Guest (May 6, 2011)

GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!! Do I see two girls who just got found???????????????


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