“We asked members if they think there are excessive tax benefits to the wealthy and about 60 per cent said yes and about 40 per cent supported the Labor proposal to tax income over $75,000,” he said.

Mr Agland said he had been expecting a more negative response from the survey.

“We were surprised by the amount of members that were concerned about the issue of higher wealth and need to address it, because our members are largely tax practitioners, so it is interesting that there is a strong indication there that something needs to be done,” he said.

According to Mr Agland, the results were “in line with what the public would think” and indicate a “change in perception”.

“There will be those who say don’t touch it at all but I think the question is coming down to equity and whether people on high incomes [perhaps] should be contributing to government,” he said.

“I think that’s the real issue and I think people have turned it around and said, ‘well, these people are taking from the system, they’re still accessing government benefits and using the health care system and all that – they should be contributing back at least a little.”