Most trustees and executives opposed to super change
Nearly three-quarters of trustees and executives working in the superannuation industry were opposed to significant changes being made to the superannuation tax and policy settings, according to a survey conducted by Money Management's sister publication Super Review during the recent Conference of Major Superannuation Funds (CMSF).
The survey is significant because it reflects the attitudes of most industry fund trustees and executives and was conducted little more than a fortnight before the changes announced last Friday by the Treasurer, Wayne Swan and the Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten.
Asked whether changing the superannuation tax settings was advisable, 72.4 per cent of respondents to the survey answered ‘no' with just 23.1 per cent of respondents thinking it would be appropriate.
However, those who answered the survey were much more evenly divided about whether targeting upper income earners would be justified, with 45.6 per cent of respondents in favour while 52.8 per cent thought it would be a bad idea.
The survey also revealed that most of those in the superannuation industry believe someone need to be earning over $200,000 a year to be counted as an upper income earner.
Asked to define what represented an upper income earner, 36.2 per cent of respondents nominated $200,000 to $250,000 a year, while 38.4 per cent nominated over $250,000 a year.
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