65,000 caught on excess contributions
The Federal Opposition has homed in on what it claims is a broken Government promise on superannuation caps, claiming the number of Australians hit with additional tax on their super contributions has more than doubled.
The claim has been made by the Federal Opposition spokesman for Financial Services, Senator Mathias Cormann, who has utilised answers to questions on notice to reveal that more than 65,000 people were found to have breached their concession super contribution caps last financial year, up from 28,000 the previous year.
He said the dramatic increase was a direct result of the Labor Government’s decision to halve concessional contribution caps down to $25,000 a year, contrary to commitments it made in the lead up to the 2007 election.
Cormann claimed the halving of the contributions caps amounted to tax grab, and called on the Government to allow people to correct inadvertent errors without being taxed at the top marginal rate.
“The top marginal rate is an inappropriately high income tax rate — particularly when the breach is caused by a broken Labor Party promise,” he said.
Cormann called on the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, to move to fix a problem that had been raised with him repeatedly by industry stakeholders.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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