Australia’s new ‘backpacker tax’ will mean more dollarydoos for Irish people heading Down Under

Original plans to impose a more severe tax on working holiday visitors may or may not have been described as a “bloody outrage”.

The Australian government has agreed to support a 15% tax rate on working holiday visitors travelling to the country. The move comes after plans to introduce a prohibitive tax of 32.5% met with vehement opposition by farmers and the tourism industry in Australia. Backpackers make up an estimated 25 per cent of the farm workforce every year (it’s estimated that they make up 85 per cent of farm labourers in the Northern Territory), while it was felt that such a tax would dissuade backpackers from visiting the country; approximately 600,000 backpackers do so every year. Earlier this year, it was revealed that the shortfall brought about by the reduced tax would be made up by a $5 increase in tax on passengers leaving the country. Tourism Australia, meanwhile, recently announced that they had joined up with travel companies in a number of countries, including Ireland, to offer competitive deals to young travellers to get involved in the country’s Working Holiday Maker (WHM) programme. An all-in package from USIT, for example, offers all of the below for €999.

• One-way flight to Australia (Sydney or Melbourne)
• One-year Working Holiday Visa
• Bank account
• Tax file number
• One year’s travel insurance for Australia and New Zealand
• One year’s job access

For more information, check out the USIT website.