Support for super shake-up won’t spark more changes
Andrew Brown and Poppy Johnston |
The government is not planning to go further than its “modest” changes to the superannuation system despite the public being firmly behind lifting taxes for people with multimillion-dollar accounts.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said while the community backed Labor’s plan to increase taxes for those with the highest balances, this was largely because the changes were small.
The latest Newspoll showed 64 per cent of people approved of the government’s plan to double the concessional tax rate for earnings on super balances of more than $3 millions.
The rate will rise from 15 per cent to 30 per cent from July 2025.
Despite the support, Mr Burke said the government was not planning further reform.
“You’ve got to be careful of overriding what’s there at the moment. I think the fact that this has been a modest, calm, balanced change is part of the support,” he said.
The Newspoll also showed 29 per cent of those surveyed did not approve of the super tax changes.
Some 80 per cent of Labor voters approved of the plan, while 54 per cent of coalition voters said they supported it.
The opposition has promised to repeal the changes if it wins the next election.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said while polls had shown support for the tax rise, it still represented a broken commitment from the government.
“What the government is doing is true to form for a Labor government – they’re raising taxes and they’re breaking election promises,” he said.
“What you’ve got to think about (is) all those people after the last election who had heard from (Prime Minister) Anthony Albanese that they weren’t going to make changes with super and they made investments based on those commitments.”
The opposition has also raised concerns about the failure to index the threshold to keep pace with inflation.
But Treasurer Jim Chalmers said modelling showed that in 30 years the $3 million threshold would only capture the top 10 per cent of people retiring each year.
“What we are proposing is a modest change but it is a simple choice,” he said.
“When we’ve inherited $1 trillion of Liberal Party debt and deficits as far as the eye can see, and unfunded, ongoing commitments and intensifying pressures in the budget, we say that the generous concessions in superannuation for half a per cent of people can be a little bit less generous.”
Independent MP Zali Steggall said she was disappointed about the timing of the super changes, arguing the government was promoting division in the community.
“It is disingenuous to do these targeted attacks on those that are more well off, when they are also focused on meeting that cost of retirement and aged care,” she said.
Ms Steggall said the “class warfare” could be an attempt by the government to disguise its lack of fiscal policy.
Independent senator David Pocock said the support for increasing super taxes to deal with government debt showed talks on repealing planned stage-three income tax cuts were also needed.
AAP
