Superannuation needs systemic principles
The Australian superannuation system needs a set of systemic principles to keep both sides of Government from "tinkering" with it, according to Sunsuper chief executive Tony Lally.
Lally said he was working with the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), which he chairs, to develop a set of principles for the superannuation industry to present to Treasury before the 2013 budget.
"Then we put it to bed and both sides of politics leave it and we get on with it and we run it — basically for the Government.
"That way the age pension in the future won't be as big and we have a big pot of money to invest in infrastructure and railways and bridges across Sydney harbour and whatever the hell we need," he said.
Lally pointed to the Government's removal of super tax concessions for high income earners as just one example of policy diminishing confidence in the system. The previous Government had also removed tax on super for over-60s without consulting the industry, he said.
"It's a bit disingenuous of Treasury to say that superannuation has $25 billion in tax concessions.
"The fact is it's a $1.5 trillion industry and the Government has set up the Super Guarantee contributions and people have accumulated assets over a lifetime — they can't just turn around now and say ‘by the way, we're now going to tax you'," he said.
Lally said although Australia's super system was miles in front of other countries, most of them had a set of super principles.
"It's not rocket science, it's actually quite simple — but by Governments coming along and saying we're going to change this and change that and tax this and tax that, you get this kind of flopping forwards and backwards and people just can't claim any confidence," he said.
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