Senator Mathias Cormann, shadow minister for superannuation, has fired one of the opening salvos in the seven-month lead-up to the election, accusing Prime Minister Julia Gillard of using people’s retirement savings like an ATM to fund Labor’s spending.
Cormann, an outspoken critic of some of the government’s Future of Financial Advice reforms, claims a re-elected Gillard Labor government would force Australians saving to achieve a self-funded retirement to pay the price for its reckless spending over the past five years.
“After $172 billion of accumulated deficits and another $120 billion in unfunded promises, Labor is yet again casting around for more cash and has identified Australian super savers as easy targets,” he said.
“This Labor government has a terrible track record on superannuation already, having imposed more than $8 billion in increased taxes on people’s retirement savings so far.
“So far Labor has increased taxes on voluntary savings by reducing concessional contribution caps from $50,000 and $100,000 down to $25,000 across the board. Anyone who wants to save more than $25,000 per annum – including their compulsory super contribution – now has to pay more tax.”
Cormann (right) further accused Labor of dramatically reducing the co-contribution for low-income earners and doubling the super contributions tax for high-income earners.
“They have fiddled with the definition of income to ensure more income is captured in the super-taxation net and they have increased capital gains tax revenue from superannuation,” he said.
“Julia Gillard has all but made clear that under Labor there will be more pain for Australian super savers. Every time Labor increases taxes on Australian super savers, it reduces the incentive for them to do the right thing by saving towards achieving a self-funded retirement.”
