The Rich get Poorer under Albanese’s new super laws

By Warren Strybosch

It had to happen. With record spending under Labor, and Australia’s debt continuing to skyrocket, Labor has been under pressure to find ways to either curb spending or find new ways to increase revenue. Given Labor is not known for having a good fiscal policy and would rather give away money to the masses, they have sought to raise revenue instead.

They did not have to look to far. With total superannuation assets worth $3.3 trillion at the end of the September 2022 quarter (https://www.superannuation. asn.au/), there is a massive amount of money at the governments fingertips ready for the taking. Obviously, they cannot simply take the funds, but they can sure as hell tax it. This is exactly what they have decided to do.

The Prime Minister, on the 27th of July, announced that from 1st July 2025, anyone with superannuation balances over $3 million, will be taxed at 30 cents in the dollar. That is a whopping 100% increase in taxes for those with large super balances.

The change will take place after the next federal election. Labor is hoping that by taxing the rich it will be resonant with the less fortunate. After all, who really cares about the big end of town? Ironically, more and more people in the future are going to find themselves with likely super balances above 3 million dollars. In the next 10 to 15 years, we are going to see the largest movement in intergenerational wealth that the world has ever seen and a lot of that transfer of wealth will be likely placed into superannuation…well, it was going to be.

For those who have worked hard and made their fortunes, they will be forking the bill for those who have not once again. Again, who cares, right?

Mr Albanese said the reform would “strengthen the system by making it more sustainable”.

“The savings that are made from this tax breaks will contribute $900 million to the bottom line of the forward estimates and some $2 billion when it is operating over the full year period,” he said.

We are not sure how these changes will ‘strengthen the system by making it more sustainable’?

Isn’t the amount of superannuation assets growing year by year? I think he means that this will make it more sustainable for them to keep spending money like it grows on trees by taking it from others.

Will this win votes with the average Aussie punter? Likely it will as we are known for our tall poppy syndrome in Australia. We are all on about given the battler a go but don’t get too high or we will try and pull you down.

In short, super is getting taxed again and this is likely to lead to more scepticism about using super in the future.