Fairfax’s Michael Pascoe (the “Pascometer”) is talking way too much sense these days, today tackling the prickly issue of superannuation:
Superannuation tax expenditure – that is, what the various super tax breaks cost the budget – will soon match the cost of the actual pension and do very little to reduce pension costs…
“The tax system should support and encourage superannuation savings up to the point of making people independent of the government age pension”… Beyond that point, it’s up to the individual…
Various policies would flow from my stated objective. Unlimited tax-free status on earnings and payments in superannuation’s pension stage – what makes our super the world’s best tax haven for the relatively well-off like me – would no longer apply.
The amount of super that qualified for tax advantages would once again be capped.
People would no longer be able to take the tax-subsidised portion of their super savings in a lump sum to dispose of in such a way as to qualify for a pension or part pension…
Equity in the system could be restored by simply making all the tax breaks – on contributions, on earnings within the fund and on payments by the fund – a 15 percentage point discount to whatever the individual’s marginal tax rate might be.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
