The prime minister has quickly dismissed calls from the Greens to expand the scope of the government’s changes to superannuation tax concessions.
Key points:
- The Greens want all tax concessions for people with more than $1.9 million in their superannuation accounts scrapped
- The prime minister brushed that suggestion aside but welcomed the policy debate
- The federal government wants to double the tax rate on earnings for people with more than $3 million in their accounts
The crossbench party, which controls a bloc of 11 votes in the Senate, argued Labor’s proposal to double the concessional tax rate on earnings for Australians with more than $3 million in their superannuation account was window-dressing.
The Greens believe the policy is undermined by the government’s ongoing support of income tax cuts, due to come into effect from July 2024.
The “stage 3” cuts will abolish the current 37 per cent tax bracket, lower the existing 32.5 per cent bracket to 30 per cent, and raise the threshold for the top tax bracket from $180,001 to $200,001.
“Fiddling at the margins on superannuation tax concessions while proceeding with stage 3 tax cuts is just a money-go-round scheme for the rich,” Greens economic spokesperson Nick McKim said.
“Labor is basically proposing to rob Peter to pay Peter.
“The Greens want Labor to eliminate all superannuation tax concessions above $1.9 million.”
Coalition scathing of broken promise
The Coalition has been scathing in its criticism of the prime minister and Treasurer Jim Chalmers since the pair announced their tax tweaks, accusing them of breaking an election promise to the Australian people by pursuing changes to superannuation.
The Opposition argued the changes would go well beyond the around 80,000 people highlighted by the government as being impacted by the changes.
Anthony Albanese gave the Greens’ idea short shrift when asked about it while campaigning in the Melbourne suburb of Boronia ahead of next month’s Aston by-election.
“Well, the Greens will always try to find a reason to try to say that what Labor’s proposing is something that they have a different position from,” he said.
“But at least they’re not like the ‘No-alition’, saying no to everything.
“We have got the balance right, making a difference — it will come in after the next election in 2025.”
Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume, also campaigning in Aston, took the Greens’ policy proposal as an opportunity to continue attacking the government.
“At least the Greens have been honest from day one about what they think about taxing Australians — unlike the Albanese government, who promised that there would be no new taxes, they promised that there would be no changes to superannuation.
“And yet, they’ve backflipped on this promise this week.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised to repeal the super changes if the Coalition wins the next election.