ACOSS urges Govt to hold line on upper income earners

18 August 2016
| By Mike |
image
image
expand image

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has sought to stiffen the Government's resolve on key elements of its Budget superannuation changes.

ACOSS chief executive, Cassandra Goldie said this week the Government should hold the line on its proposed curbs on tax breaks for superannuation for people on the highest incomes, describing them as "modest changes" while urging greater help for low income earners.

"These are modest changes. After they are introduced, the average level of government support for retirement incomes (tax breaks and pensions) for the top one per cent of wage earners will only fall from $850,000 to $650,000 over their lifetime," she said.

"Support for those in the lowest 10 per cent is estimated by Treasury to be just over $300,000."

"We urge the Government to take a step further and improve support for saving by people with low incomes by doubling the proposed tax offset for people with low incomes (LISTO). This would bring a much better balance to the taxing of superannuation so that tax concessions for superannuation are better targeted to the core purpose of superannuation," Goldie said.

She said that under the present system, a person earning $200,000 saved 34 cents per dollar contributed to super but a worker on $20,000 or less received no tax break at all and that the proposals being pursued by ACOSS would go some way to fixing this inequity.

"This would ensure scarce government resources are directed at achieving the core purpose of superannuation — delivering decent retirement incomes for people who will otherwise rely mainly on the Age Pension," Goldie said.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

1 year ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

1 year ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

1 year ago

The future of superannuation policy remains uncertain, with further reforms potentially on the horizon as the Albanese government seeks to curb the use of superannuation ...

3 hours ago

Super funds had a “tremendous month” in November, according to new data....

4 days 2 hours ago

Australia faces a decade of deficits, with the sum of deficits over the next four years expected to overshoot forecasts by $21.8 billion....

4 days 7 hours ago