Although this week’s federal budget didn’t provide any further information on how the new tax will work (which some thought it might do), the government confirmed its intention to reduce tax concessions for super fund members with account balances of more than $3 million.

With the forecast that the new tax – to be imposed on a modest 80,000 taxpayers who currently have $3 million-plus super accounts – has the potential to be contributing $2.3 billion a year to government revenue by the time its first full year of operation comes around in four years, it highlights the cash cow that superannuation has become for Treasury.