Following reports earlier this month that dividend imputation credits received by tax-free (mostly wealthy) superannuation holders over the age of 60 are costing the Budget some $6 billion a year in forgone revenue, The Australia Institute (TAI) has released a new study showing that Australia’s $29 billion system of franking credits for investors is skewed heavily towards the rich and is costing the Budget some $5 billion a year. From Fairfax:
…the wealthiest 10 per cent of households – those earning disposable income of more than $207,000 – gain almost 75 per cent of the $10 billion in franking credits siphoned directly to them.