MOMONEYMOFREEInflation is only one of three forces squeezing you
Even as the headline rate cools, you can still be going backwards. Prices are just one force — frozen tax brackets and your mortgage burden are the other two. Here's the part the inflation number never shows.
how far the typical Australian's real income now sits below pre-pandemic — the weakest run since the 1960s, and the headline inflation rate never showed it
This week’s 4 charts
tap any chart to preview ↗Pay rises added 4 points. Interest and tax took 5.
Since 2019, wage growth lifted household income — but higher interest and tax took back more. Net result: backwards.
Source: RBA — income & consumption since the pandemic
Bracket creep bites lower earners hardest
The rise in your average tax rate over a decade of frozen brackets — biggest at the bottom.
Source: ATO brackets + e61 (illustrative, 10yr at ~3% inflation)
Your mortgage, then and now
Annual interest on a $500k loan — about 2.9× what it cost in 2021.
Source: RBA rates (illustrative ~2.1% vs ~6.1%)
Prices are still beating pay
Essentials and even the headline are outrunning wage growth — real pay is going backwards.
Source: ABS CPI + Wage Price Index, yr to Mar-2026
Inflation is only one of three forces. Frozen tax brackets quietly lift your rate, your mortgage burden sits near a 15-year high, and pay still isn't keeping up — so even as the headline cools, you can be going backwards. Find your own squeeze, don't just watch the number.
General information only — not financial advice. Figures are drawn from public sources, rounded and illustrative.