Industry Super Australia strongly welcomes reports today in the Australian Financial Review that the Budget will re-target high end super tax concessions to preserve savings incentives for women and other lower income earners. Robbie Campo, Deputy Chief Executive of Industry Super Australia, says if the reports prove correct then it will be a major win for working women and other lower earners whose super needs a boost.
“This would be very welcome news for the 3 million Australians, 2 million of whom are women, who are facing tax hikes of up to $500 a year on their super contributions from July next year with the abolition of the Low Income Superannuation Contribution,” Ms. Campo commented.
Ms Campo pointed out that a landmark Senate report last week confirmed that much more needs to be done to improve women’s economic security in retirement. Campo went on to comment that abolishing the LISC would be a retrograde step, further reducing the super savings of millions of Australian women. The reported changes are recognition that tax settings on super are outdated and need to be more in tune with the sharp increase in part-time work over the last 25 years. Adding that if the changes are well designed, they will not only boost the super savings of those who need it most, they will ease the extent to which many need to rely so heavily on the age pension.
Industry Super Australia along with others in the not-for-profit super sector have been relentless in their pursuit of fairer and more efficient tax concessions for superannuation to deliver more help to those with inadequate super balances, particularly women.ISA has made multiple submissions to the Tax White Paper process, Senate Inquiry into Women’s Retirement Income Security and most recently pre-budget research highlighting how the system is out of step with modern day part-time work patterns. Ms. Campo said ISA is looking forward to seeing all of the detail of the measures in the Budget to see whether they will make the system fairer, more efficient and sustainable.