The 2017-18 tax returns showed an average taxable income in Wagga's 2650 postcode of $56,870 across a total of more than 33,900 taxpayers.

About 81 per cent of taxpayers in Wagga, Bomen, Collingullie, Downside reported wages or a salary as part of their earnings, with 14 per cent receiving income from rents and 7 per cent from a business.

Paisley Robertson accounting firm director Andrew Morrison said it was expected that Wagga as a large regional centre would generate higher incomes.

"It was interesting to note the number of individual tax returns, it's about half the population, taking into account children and those retired or not working.

"There was a reasonable proportion of the population who do have a rental property...you only need to look around town to see the number of houses going up."

Wagga's average tax deduction was $800, with 79 per cent of people filing a return paying at least $1 to the tax office and the average tax bill being $15,932.

Mr Morrison said Wagga's level of deductions seemed "quite high" but Junee's average of more than $2400 was a standout in the region.

"Farm deductions are usually through a trust or a partnership, so they might not be showing up here," he said.

"You have got the jail there so people who live there may have training and self education expenses that are contributing to that, uniform expenses and travel to Goulburn or Sydney."

The proportion of residents owning an investment property to rent out was fairly consistent across the Riverina's postcodes, ranging from 10 to 14 per cent across most areas.

Wagga Accountants director Parul Banga said the average return on a rental property for Wagga owners was a $1043 profit, suggesting most people were not taking advantage of negative gearing to reduce their tax bill.

"It looks like they are basically claiming council rates and water and that's it," she said.

"They're not claiming interest, depreciation and all the range of deductions that are available to rental owners or they have probably paid those properties off.

"Most of them are paying tax on their rental income. There's a lot of hype about claiming a lot of negative gearing but looking at the statistics for Wagga, it does not look like it is possible."

Negative gearing allows the owner of a rental property to deduct the costs of financing and maintaining the property from their other taxable incomes.

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Wagga surpassed Albury in average taxable income during the 2014-15 financial year and has kept its place at the top except for Coolac and Wallendbeen, which both had 1000 or fewer people filing tax returns.

Ms Banga said Wagga's average income was still substantially below the national average.

"The average weekly income for Australia is supposed to be $1658.70 per week, which comes out to about $86,000 per year.

"Compared to that, average income in Wagga is much lower at $56,000...that's a lot lower, nearly $30,000 lower than average full-time earnings."