‘Naive’: Australians have their say on proposed super tax

How Australians truly feel about Labor’s proposed “rich tax” has been revealed in a new poll, and the results may surprise you.

Young voters and Labor voters are among those most in favour of the Albanese government’s proposed tax concession reductions for people with more than $3m in superannuation.

Half of Australian voters (52 per cent) support the proposal, while about one in four (26 per cent) oppose it, YouGov polling on behalf of The Australia Institute has found.

Young people aged 18-24 are about four times as likely to support the proposal as oppose it. Female voters are more than twice as likely to support the proposal as oppose it.

Only 0.3 per cent of Australians – some 80,000 – have super balances north of $3m.

Under the proposed changes, they would pay an additional 15 per cent on yields, which according to Treasury estimates would pump about $2.7bn into Commonwealth coffers.

Some 80,000 Australians have super balances more than $3m. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard.

Speaking to NewsWire, The Australia Institute executive director and former chief economist Richard Denniss said he believed it was naive to suggest young voters should be worried about tax concessions for the ultra-wealthy.

“It seems quite ridiculous to suggest that young people who can’t afford to buy a house, young people who are worried about all of the pressures of modern life, should be worried about the feelings of much older people with $3m in superannuation,” he said.

“We are in a cost-of living crisis. To suggest that the big concern for most Australian voters, let alone for most young voters is the feelings of people with more than $3m in super paying a little bit more tax. Well, I just think that’s naive.”

Some critics have decried the proposal as a tax on unrealised gains, with others warning it could penalise younger generations down the track.
However, Mr Denniss said these criticisms misinterpreted or overlooked the realities of the situation.

The Australia Institute executive director Richard Denniss believes it’s ‘naive’ to suggest young voters should be worried about tax concessions for the ultra-wealthy. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“The simple reality is only 80,000 of the 26 million people in Australia have got more than $3m in super. If someone finished school and started earning the average earnings on the day they finished school and worked for the rest of their life, they still wouldn’t get to $3m in superannuation,” he said.

“To suggest that in time, this will be a big deal for all Australians really suggests that people making that argument have no idea what ordinary Australians are dealing with – $3 is an enormous amount of money to have in superannuation and all the government’s proposing is that people that are fortunate enough to have that much get slightly smaller tax concessions than they currently do.”

Mr Denniss added that it was “pretty clear” why young people would think “sure, pay a bit more tax, because I’d like to have access to better quality health, better quality education, and improvements to my cost of living”.

The survey also found that half (50 per cent) of Australian voters believe the additional $2.7bn in revenue from these changes would make no difference to their vote at the next election. However, about one in five (19 per cent) indicated that it would make them more likely to vote Labor.

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has claimed that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could be exempt from Labor’s proposed super tax. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Denniss said that of particular interest was the higher proportion of young voters, female voters and independent voters who were more likely to support the reduction.

“It’s very high risk for the Liberal Party to so soon after losing young female voters in inner city areas to come out and defend a policy that overwhelmingly helps higher income men,” he said.

The survey found nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of Australian voters see the main purpose of the superannuation system as funding their retirement. More than half (53 per cent) also believe it’s there to reduce reliance on the aged pension.

“We’re often told that the point of superannuation is to help people fund a dignified retirement and that the benefit of superannuation is that it takes pressure off the age pension budget. This sounds amazing, but in reality in Australia, there are people with half a billion dollars in their self-managed super funds,” Mr Denniss said.

Mr Albanese is not exempt from the super tax. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“So unfortunately, superannuation has become a vehicle for tax minimisation for the very wealthiest Australians and giving huge tax breaks to people with half a billion dollars in super does nothing to take pressure off the age pension budget for the simple reason that someone with half a billion dollars was never going to get the age pension.

“We really need to reflect as a country on what is the point of superannuation and what is the goal of giving tax breaks to superannuation? Because giving tax breaks to people who’ve got half a billion dollars in their self-managed super fund makes no economic sense and it doesn’t make a lot of political sense either.”

The 18-34 age group showed the highest likelihood of being swayed to vote Labor due to this policy; however, South Australian voters and Coalition supporters were among the most likely to be less supportive of Labor as a result.

“The reality is that people living in the inner cities of Australia are often the highest income earners, so it’s not a surprise that we see a lot of people in regional areas and a lot of people in capital cities like Adelaide and Hobart, where incomes are a lot lower than Sydney and Melbourne, are less concerned about this policy than most,” Mr Denniss said. “But to be clear, even in the inner city, even in NSW, a majority of Australians actually think that this is a good idea.”

Originally published as ‘Naive’: Australians have their say on proposed super tax