The Federal Government has been warned against seeking to legislate by press release with the Abbott Government's so-far-stalled pause to the superannuation guarantee being specifically referenced as a measure announced by press release which has gone awry and will impose costs on employers and super funds.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has taken both the major political parties to task for seeking to legislate by press release in a submission to the Federal Treasury. The submission deals with protection provisions to be introduced by proposed amendments to the Income Tax Assessment Act involving discontinued announcements.
It states that, "ASFA has concerns that, over the years, there has been an increasing tendency for governments to legislate by press release. That is, the government makes an announcement, states that it has effect from a specific date and then commences the often lengthy task of consultation and enacting legislation".
"Significantly, this process tends not to be applied to matters such as closing a tax avoidance scheme or introducing other revenue measures, typically in association with the Budget process, but increasingly announcements with respect to tax expenditure measures are of this nature," it said.
The ASFA submission said this process of legislation by announcement served to create uncertainty for taxpayers and their advisers and could add considerably to business costs.
The submission specifically pointed to the Abbott Government's two-year pause to the increase in the superannuation guarantee from 9.25 per cent to 9.5 per cent with effect from the 2014/15 financial year, and the fact that the legislation to give effect to the measure is linked to the repeal of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) which is currently stalled in the Senate and likely to remain so until sometime after July.
It said that the result would be that the superannuation guarantee would rise to 9.5 per cent on 1 July and would remain at that level until such time as the MRRT was repealed — something which would impose a considerable cost on employers and superannuation funds.
It said a preferable course of action would have been to have announced the SG pause would occur in the financial year following the measure being legislated.
