Geoff Wilson

I would like to see a single “economist” or “tax expert” who supports these changes accept Derek’s challenge. Explain your maths in public. Anyone??

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭? Back in 2019, when Bill Shorten went to the election proposing what many saw as a direct assault on self-funded retirees, Australians rejected it. Yet under Albanese and Chalmers, we are seeing many of those same principles re-emerge, only this time through a series of incremental tax changes rather than one headline policy. Two examples stand out. First, many self-funded retirees still pay income tax. Yet they won’t receive the new taxpayer-funded $250 Working Australians Tax Offset simply because they are no longer earning PAYG income, despite continuing to contribute through the tax system. Second—and this is something I only became aware of a couple of days ago—the Government’s capital gains tax reforms introduce a minimum 30% tax rate on capital gains, while exempting recipients of certain income support payments, including the Age Pension. That means you don’t have to receive a full pension to qualify for the exemption. If you receive even a small part pension, you can be exempt from the 30% minimum tax. So two retirees with similar assets and similar capital gains could face completely different tax outcomes simply because one qualifies for a small part pension and the other, who has funded their own retirement without relying on government income support, does not. Whether you support the broader tax reforms or not, that raises an obvious question of fairness. Should Australians who have worked, saved and largely funded their own retirement really be taxed more heavily than someone who qualifies for even a token amount of tax payers funded income support?