Speaking at the National Press Club yesterday, federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten offered the Turnbull government “a way forward on superannuation”.
Treasurer Scott Morrison is currently negotiating with Coalition benchbackers who oppose the retrospective nature of the lifetime contributions cap, which at the moment takes into account all contributions since 2007.
“Today I’m putting forward a better, fairer alternative that delivers a stronger budget improvement,” said Mr Shorten.
“We will not tie the $500,000 lifetime contribution cap back to 2007. Instead, our changes will apply from budget night [2016].
“This means that Australians who have invested for retirement in good faith, based on clear rules – no matter how generous – will not be punished after the fact,” said Mr Shorten.
“Nor will they be put through the administrative headache of piecing together financial decisions tracing back a decade when the law doesn’t even require them to keep these documents.”
To maintain savings in the budget, Mr Shorten said Labor would propose lowering the high-income superannuation contributions tax threshold from $250,000 to $200,000.
“Together, our measures will improve the budget over the forward estimates by $238 million and $4.4 billion over the decade,” he said.
“[That means] more budget savings, but no retrospectivity.”
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