Changes to super contributions ‘not a tax increase’, says Shorten

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Bill Shorten previously stated that Labor had “no plans to increase taxes on superannuation” and “no plans to introduce any new taxes on superannuation” when asked if he could rule out new taxes on superannuation.

Mr Shorten has since clarified that his comments were not referring to the superannuation measures already announced by Labor.

“I thought I was being asked if there were unannounced changes to superannuation and we’ve already made the announcements of the changes we’re going to make,” Mr shorten stated at a recent press conference in Perth.

“Obviously, we have changes which we outlined three years ago. I should have picked the words better, no question. We have no proposals other than what we’ve already announced previously, no changes to the general taxation treatment other than what we announced recently.”

Mr Shorten also reconfirmed that the division 293 tax threshold — the threshold at which high-income earners pay an additional 15 per cent tax on concessional contributions — would be lowered from $250,000 to $200,000 under Labor.

He denied that the raft of proposed changes to superannuation contributions by Labor — which include the reduction to the division 293 tax threshold, the lowering of non-concessional contribution caps, the removal of catch-up contributions and the reinstatement of the 10 per cent test — were an increase in tax. 

“I do dispute it as a tax increase. I absolutely do. What happens when you give a concession to someone is that’s a tax expenditure. If I was to give you a concession on something, that is money that we take out of the tax system, which you get,” Mr Shorten stated.

“That is a concession to you. And that, therefore, becomes a choice. Is it the best use of a concession to give someone a concession, preferential treatment on one aspect of superannuation? Or to invest in other parts of our nation’s priorities.”

Also speaking at the press conference, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said that Labor’s proposed reforms to superannuation tax concessions and reversal of some of the government’s measures would “return $30 billion over the medium term on current projections”.

“Jim Chalmers and I will be releasing the budget bottom line and the impact of the decisions shortly. We have the pre-election economic forecast and we’re doing that over the course of the campaign. The Parliamentary Budget Office does that after every economic statement,” he stated.