Imposing an additional 10 per cent income tax, on top of the existing 15 per cent for SMSFs, could equate to $1.78 billion in new tax revenue, according to BasisPoint.
David Chin, managing director, said the potential tax would be a “feasible development”, given the government has already hinted at tax changes for SMSFs.
“Number one, the government is looking for new tax revenues. Number two, these tax revenues, on the assumption of a 10 per cent extra income tax, are almost as big as the mining tax, so it is quite substantial,” he said.
“Number three, it’s impacting on 56,000 of SMSFs in the higher bracket, so it’s not impacting on a lot of voters. On that basis, I think it would be tempting for the government to explore this option.”
Mr Chin said he released the figures to spur public discussion ahead of the May Budget, and to enable the SMSF industry to lobby against the possible move.
“It’s a tax on savings and so you wouldn’t want it to be a disincentive for future generations to save via their SMSFs,” he said.
