The Labor Party has continued its hypocritical attack against the Government’s super policy today, maintaining the false argument that it comprises a “retrospective” change. Here’s Bill Shorten as reported in The AFR:
“Morrison and Turnbull recklessly not only adopted our principled approach for the future but appeared to be manoeuvring it
so people who’ve invested under current laws will be retrospectively penalised”.“The people who are affected aren’t people likely to vote for Labor but the point is superannuation and people who have superannuation accounts are sick and tired of meddling, they don’t like surprises and we are gravely concerned that the Liberal Party have gone back on one of their fundamental policies and now they’re saying they’re going to retrospectively change superannuation and the Liberals don’t appear to understand the consequences of what they’ve done”.
Pull your head in Bill. There is nothing “retrospective” about the Coalition’s reforms since the changes would apply only to future super earnings, not income earned in the past.
It’s no different to when changes are made to pensions, family tax benefits, child care rebates, or the like. These are rarely grandfathered and almost always affect existing users, not just users in the future.
Besides, if the Coalition’s plan is “retrospective” then so is yours. Under Labor’s proposed superannuation reforms, annual earnings in retirement of more than $75,000 would be taxed at 15% versus 0% tax currently. Assuming a 5% return, this equates to a super balance of $1.5 million – even less than the Coalition’s $1.6 million cap.
There’s a lot to like about your election platform, Bill. But misleading arguments about “retrospectivity” is not one of them.
