May 14, 2026 — 7:20pm
Dr Joseph De Zylva didn’t grow up rich. His family, he says, were likely below the poverty line. His school supplies in high school came from a bursary that set him on the path to university, and medicine.
“Clearly it was a person from an area of privilege who supported me,” the Northern Territory doctor said. “I’m concerned these changes will mean trust funds will now be offloading that money to the government … and they’ll be unwilling or unable to help kids like me in the future.”
That is a reference to the federal budget announcement on Tuesday that there would be a 30 per cent minimum tax on a trust’s taxable income from July 2028, replacing the current system where the amount of tax paid is based on the marginal tax rate of the trust’s various beneficiaries.
The current system – which remains in place while the government attempts to legislate the changes – allows the beneficiaries of the more than 840,000 family trusts in Australia to split income between parents who may be earning more, and children earning less, reducing their overall tax bill.
