Wind back retirement tax breaks to pay for better aged care
Rather than just hit working people with a tax hike, the government should tighten the superannuation concessions that have just one in six older Australians pay any income tax.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has made it clear: Australia needs to transform its aged care system. The final report, released on Monday, showed that too many older Australians don’t get the care they need, including the 100,000 currently on the home care waiting list.
The royal commissioners lay the blame for this crisis on, among other things, inadequate funding. The present ration-based approach means funding is determined “irrespective of the level of need, and without sufficient regard to whether the funding is adequate to deliver quality care”. Expenditure has not kept pace with demand.
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Brendan Coates is the economic policy program director at the Grattan Institute.
Anika Stobart is an Associate at the Grattan Institute.
