By Leith van Onselen Tony Abbott’s “captain’s call” not to reform superannuation concessions has been further exposed, with The AFR revealing today that the Coalition was considering making changes to superannuation right up until the Labor opposition announced their policy to partially unwind concessions three weeks before the budget: In the letter, obtained following a
By Leith van Onselen Earlier this year, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) released its pre-Budget submission, which charted a fairer path back to Budget surplus by unwinding inefficient and inequitable tax and welfare arrangements, rather than through direct spending cuts targeting the vulnerable. Following the passage on Monday evening of the Government’s reforms
By Leith van Onselen Tony Abbott’s “captain’s call” not to reform superannuation concessions is looking more idiotic by the day, with the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees today revealing that wealthy superannuants will receive double the level of government support than most of their middle-income counterparts as a result of changes to the Aged Pension. From
Cross-posted from Online Opinion: Even those who do not like him will acknowledge that Australia owes a huge debt of gratitude to Paul Keating. During his term as Prime Minister two decades ago, he established compulsory superannuation despite a hostile Opposition that declared it to be a step towards socialism. A few weeks ago, I
By Leith van Onselen Tony Abbott is sticking to his “captain’s call” refusing to reform superannuation, reaffirming his stance in a radio interview this morning on The ABC: “…your superannuation savings are safe under this Government. We promised before the election there would be no adverse changes to superannuation in this term of parliament. There
by Chris Becker The first rule when scrutinising anything that comes from the unproductive FIRE sector is to of course take any reports, press releases or other with a huge grain of salt. When it comes from the huge $2 trillion superannuation industry, we must be doubly cautious. Indeed, a new report from the private Association of Superannuation
By Leith van Onselen To say that the Abbott Government has misread the mood on superannuation reform is an understatement. Apart from a few in the loony right, it seems the overwhelming majority of interest groups and “experts” have called for superannuation reform, including: The Council of the Ageing; The Australia Institute; The Grattan Institute;
By Leith van Onselen The Actuaries Institute has called for urgent and sensible reform of the superannuation and retirement incomes system, recommending the following in its response to the government’s tax discussion paper: introducing a lifetime cap of around $2.5 million on superannuation savings which can be transitioned into a superannuation income stream which pays
By Leith van Onselen The list of groups that Tony Abbott has put off side with his “strategic” captain’s call not to touch Australia’s wasteful and inequitable superannuation concessions continues to grow with Financial System Inquiry head, David Murray, arguing that inaction to reform super will only make the system more vulnerable. From The AFR:
By Leith van Onselen It seems that along with Treasurer Joe Hockey, John Fraser is another unwilling participant in Tony Abbott’s “strategic” captain’s call not to touch Australia’s wasteful and inequitable superannuation concessions. Appearing at the Senate estimates committee hearing in Canberra yesterday, Fraser all but admitted that superannuation reform is inevitable, given its growing
By Leith van Onselen Dad’s Army’s Robert Gottliebsen (“Gotti”) is back today deriding Australia’s “young journalists” and defending the rights of older superannuants to avoid paying taxes: When is a retiree rich? The catch cry among the young journalists in many media organisations is that the real problem for the nation is that we have
By Leith van Onselen It seems Treasurer Joe Hockey was an unwilling participant in Tony Abbott’s “strategic” captain’s call not to touch Australia’s wasteful and inequitable superannuation concessions. Appearing on ABC’s Q&A program last night, Treasurer Hockey refused to rule-out reforming superannuation in the future, admitting that the system would need to be addressed eventually
By Leith van Onselen The Australian’s Terry McCrann penned a curious piece over the weekend, supporting Tony Abbott’s claims that “there is a world of difference between taxpayer-funded benefits and people’s own savings [superannuation concessions]”: A tax expenditure is not the same thing as an actual expenditure… The critical intersection of all this is the
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
By Leith van Onselen Industry Super Australia (ISA) has released some perverse analysis today arguing that modest income earners would lose the most from the Government’s tightening of the assets test for the Aged Pension. From The Canberra Times: …middle income Australians would be dealt the heaviest blow – losing more than $100,000 over their
By Leith van Onselen Former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, seems to be losing his marbles in his old age, recommending that Australian workers be slugged a 3% levy to act as a long-term insurer for the ageing: Under his superannuation phase two proposal he called for the Government to impose a levy of up to
By Leith van Onselen The Coalition is going to rue the day that it decided against replacing Tony Abbott as Prime Minister. After Abbott’s failed ‘captain’s calls’ on the flawed Paid Parental Leave, Prince Philip’s knighthood, and the dumping of chief whip Phillip Ruddock (amongst others), it has been revealed that the decision to rule-out
By Leith van Onselen Joe Hockey’s pronouncement on Budget night that there would be “no new taxes on superannuation under this government” appears to have backfired, angering seniors groups and undermining their support for reforms to the Aged Pension. Appearing last night on the ABC’s 7.30 Report, key lobby groups for older Australians – the
By Leith van Onselen Tony Abbott has truly taken the piss today on superannuation, slamming Labor’s planned reforms as an attack on people’s hard earned savings. From The AFR: “This is one (of the) fundamental differences between the Coalition and the Labor Party. We respect people’s savings. We don’t think that superannuation is government money.
By Leith van Onselen The federal Labor Opposition is preparing to fight the next election on superannuation concessions, holding firm to the belief that the current system is wholly unsustainable and the Government’s “no touch” approach is fiscally irresponsible and inequitable. From The Guardian: Budget figures show that the accumulated cost of concession for superannuation
By Leith van Onselen For me, the biggest disappointment from last week’s Federal Budget was the vow by Treasurer Joe Hockey that this Government would not touch superannuation. In doing so, Hockey effectively locked-in former Treasurer, Peter Costello’s, egregious superannuation reforms, including: granting tax free superannuation status for retirees (over 60s) – a move dubbed
by Chris Becker The latest on reform today from the AFR is the total abandoning of any pension/retirement changes: The Abbott government has dumped plans for an inquiry into retirement incomes and toughened its opposition to changing the tax treatment of superannuation by ruling it out beyond the next election as well. Seeking to define the pre-election battlelines
When applying for a job recently I was asked to write a 500 word opinion piece about using superannuation funds for home deposits. I didn’t get the job so there is no reason to waste 500 good words; I’ve published he piece at the bottom of this post. But that’s not what this post is
By Leith van Onselen Assistant Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has revealed that the Abbott Government is considering limiting the ability of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) to leverage into investments. From The AFR: Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government will crack down on borrowing by self-managed superannuation funds but will not follow a recommendation of the
By Leith van Onselen Peter Costello’s hypocrisy has turned nuclear, today lecturing politicians to stop meddling with superannuation. From The AFR: “Increasing taxes on superannuation, which is a long term savings vehicle, usually involves taking now at a cost to be borne sometime in the future”… “Governments are interested in the here and now –
By Leith van Onselen The Abbott Government continues to be all over the shop on retirement policy. With the Budget in long-term structural decline, and superannuation concessions projected grow by a whopping 10.8% per annum between 2014-15 and 2017-18 to some $49 billion, the Coalition has criticised Labor’s modest proposal to reduce super concessions enjoyed
By Leith van Onselen Echoing my post this morning, the Grattan Institute has responded to the Labor Party’s proposed superannuation reforms, arguing that they are nowhere near enough. From The AFR: “Super has essentially become a large tax avoidance scheme for the well off,” Grattan Institute chief executive John Daley said. “The ALP’s proposals are
By Leith van Onselen The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has vowed that it will reform Australia’s superannuation system if it wins government, proposing two measures that would reduce tax concessions received by high income earners. Under the ALP’s plan, those aged over 60, who currently pay zero tax on superannuation earnings, would be required to
By Leith van Onselen 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
By Leith van Onselen Last year, the Murray Financial System Inquiry showed that the operating costs of Australia’s superannuation funds are among the highest in the world: And that fees had not fallen in line with what could have been expected given the substantial increase in scale, which will dramatically reduce consumer’s retirement nest eggs:
