Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has defended the government’s refusal to index the $3 million threshold for its super tax on the basis that income tax brackets and the super surcharge for higher earners are not adjusted for inflation.

Mulino also conceded that without indexation, within 30 years, about 1.2 million people in today’s numbers would be hit by the new tax, which will apply to earnings on the component of a super account above $3 million.