If the RACGP was hoping for endorsement of its plan to tax GPs for their non-GP income, it’s in for a shock.
Less than 10% of GPs agree with the RACGP’s plan to calculate their fees based on means-testing all income, including from non-GP activities.
A Healthed webcast survey which polled more than 1200 GPs this week was a scathing rebuke to the college, who emailed members on 12 April to give them the news.
The RACGP will now ask GPs to declare whether their pre-taxation income from all sources is above or below $100,000 before billing them for membership. In the email the college said it believed means-testing was a fairer way to segment member subscription categories than the amount of time worked in general practice.
It was a big no from the surveyed GPs, with 42% saying they disagreed and only 9% unequivocal in their support.
Only 16% of the GPs surveyed felt that adjusting the RACGP’s fees structure was the way to address the college’s financial situation, which will see them end up several million dollars in debt by the end of the financial year.
Only 15% of the surveyed GPs felt the RACGP’s financial operations were transparent to members.
