Labor plan to stop tax refunds on dividend imputations to affect retirees in NSW
More than 300,000 NSW people will be slugged by Labor’s “retiree tax”, with new government analysis showing they stand to lose $2200 a year.
More than 300,000 NSW people will be slugged by Labor’s “retiree tax”, with new government analysis showing they stand to lose $2200 a year.
Almost half of those affected by Labor’s plan to scrap tax refunds on dividend imputations would be aged 65 or older — which the government believes would place a heavier load on the aged pension and, ultimately, taxpayers.
The analysis reveals one in every 14 voters in the must-win Liberal-held marginal seat of Gilmore would be hit by the plan, making it a key election issue.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said more NSW people would affected than anywhere else in the nation.
“This is another shameless tax grab by Labor from those who have done the right thing, grown their nest egg and planned to provide for their own retirement,” he said.
“The people they are hurting most are those on lower taxable incomes, with about 84 per cent of those impacted having a taxable income of less than $37,000.”
The data is based on government analysis of the latest Australian Taxation Office figures, and using postcodes to allocate it to electorates.
Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said Australia was the only OECD country with a fully refundable dividend imputation credit system — “a concession which has grown at a rapid rate and now costs the budget more than $5 billion dollars a year”.
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Mr Bowen said that no pensioners would be worse off under Labor’s changes.
“Politics is about choices. Australians don’t want the best tax loopholes in the world — they want the best schools and hospitals in the world,” Mr Bowen said.
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