Super tax cuts needed, says Liberal
A Liberal party backbencher has stepped up the pressure on the Federal Government over super reform, making a speech to Federal Parliament calling for tax cuts to encourage people to save more for their retirement.
Senator John Watson, a former chair of the Senate’s superannuation committee, said the Australian retirement incomes regime suffered from high taxation, being the only one in the world to tax super savings at threes stages.
“Unlike most other countries, tax in Australia is levied at three points: on entry with a contributions tax, on earnings and on retirement. Together with a significant concession on capital gains, tax is also levied on exit. Most other countries tax at maybe up to two levels,” Watson said.
Along with two other Liberal Party backbenchers — Senators Judith Adams and Gary Humphries — Watson has previously written to the parliamentary inquiry investigating ways to improve the superannuation savings of people under 40, urging the Government to consider tax reform for super.
“Australians respond well to initiatives, particularly where those initiatives change the attractiveness of the relationship between work and leisure.”
Watson said younger people also needed to lift their contributions to life insurance and other risk products.
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