The Labor government’s plan to abolish the high-income superannuation tax was well received by most Australian voters, according to a new poll.
according to the latest news pole A survey of 1,530 voters by The Australian between March 1st and March 4th found that 6 in 10 (64%) of the respondents had more than $3 million (US$2.03 million). He supported the government’s plan to raise the Balance’s preferential tax rate to 30%. 2025.
About 29% of voters were against the change, and the remaining 7% were unsure.
While 80% of Labor voters approved of the plan, 54% of Union voters held similar views.
Voters aged 35-49 had the highest support at 70%, followed by voters aged 18-34 at 66% and those aged 65+ at 61%.
Additionally, tertiary-level survey respondents tended to support new government policies, with 72% of college degree holders supporting the change and 62% of those without tertiary education.
Sixty-six percent of male voters approved of the plan, compared to 63% of female voters, with no significant gender gap.
All voters were asked whether they would approve the new bound rate, given that only 80,000 people would be affected and the government said it would improve the federal budget by $2 billion each year. .
Labor plan could affect half a million Australians
While the government only said 80,000 Australians would double the super tax rate by 2025, financial experts paint a very different picture for future generations when inflation is taken into account. rice field.
According to recent modeling The non-indexed $3 million maturity cap announced by the Financial Services Council, assuming an annual inflation rate of 2.5%, would result in 204,000 Australians under 30 and 322,071 over 30 retiring. Affects super-savings until reaching age.
For example, if a 25-year-old IT professional earns $100,000 a year and has a current Super Balance of $35,000, if he contributes the minimum amount to his Super Account, he will reach the maximum of $3 million by the time he retires at age 65. exceed the dollar.
Additionally, the amount of contributions required to exceed the cap may be lower than many Australians think.
According to the model, it takes about $624,867 for a 25-year-old to reach the $3 million cap when he retires at age 65, given an average inflation rate of 4% and an investment return of 7.5 on retirement balances. was shown to need to be contributed. percent per year.
However, that amount jumps to $919,671 when the average annual inflation rate drops to 3%.
Blake Briggs, CEO of the Financial Services Council, questioned the fairness of Super Caps when they weren’t indexed.
“The upper limits of the old-age pension scheme are indexed to ensure fairness between generations so that each generation benefits from the same outcomes and old-age pension schemes.” He said in a statement.
“The 500,000 Australians affected are more than six times the current government estimate, which now considers only balances over $3 million.”
House Speaker says don’t read too much into poll results
Despite the results of the latest news poll, House of Commons Speaker and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said the support was only for the new super concession tax, signaling Australian approval for further changes to the super system. said not.
“We have to be careful about overwriting what exists at the moment. I think the fact that this was a modest, gentle, balanced change is part of the support we’re getting.” he said ABC radio.
“If you’re getting good response to a particular proposal, the response is about that proposal in front of people. I don’t think you can do better than that.”
The minister said the support from the community was due to the “small” changes.
He also said Australians understood that a higher superconcession tax would be the right solution to the huge public debt compared to the spending cuts implemented by the previous coalition government. .
“People understand that the $1 trillion Liberal Party debt is not something they can take care of themselves, and there are many ways to handle the debt they face,” Burke said. I was.
“I would say that this is a pretty smart and calm reaction when people see different options.”
Meanwhile, opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the Labor government was still breaking its election promises, despite new polls showing public support for the new hypertax policy.
“What the government is doing is shaped for a Labor government, they are raising taxes and they are breaking their election promises,” he told Sky News.
“What you have to think about is all the people who heard from Anthony Albanese after the last election that they weren’t going to make any changes in the Super, and they made investments based on those commitments.
“What they are now facing is the fact that the commitments and investment decisions they made were based on false promises.”
Nina Nguyen contributed to this article.