When he’s challenged over the lack of a fair dinkum plan to fix Australia’s broken taxation system, Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ response is that Labor’s “modest but meaningful” tax changes are doing the job “in bite-sized chunks”. But as the controversy over Labor’s attempt to tax unrealised superannuation gains suggests, it largely amounts to cherry-picked, politically palatable tax rises.

Having been burned by the Coalition’s attack on Bill Shorten’s so-called “retiree tax” in 2019, Labor came to office having promised not to make any changes to superannuation taxes. But Dr Chalmers announced in February 2023 that Labor would double the 15 per cent tax rate on superannuation earnings to 30 per cent for balances over $3 million.