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Prescriptions for reform of Australia’s superannuation tax concessions
Published on 01 Apr 12 by "AUSTRALIAN TAX FORUM" JOURNAL ARTICLE
The highly controversial and often politicised issue of Australia’s retirement savings regime featured prominently throughout the two day Federal Government’s October 2011 Tax Forum. Calls for reform of this regime are by no means new. Reform debate over the years has focused on each of the three separate pillars: the age pension, compulsory superannuation, and voluntary saving, as well as the interaction of those three elements. However, recently there has been a significant shift away from reliance on the age pension, with its associated risks falling to the government, to a defined contributions scheme where the associated risks fall to the individual taxpayer.Consequently, Australia’s superannuation regime is predominantly subject to current debate, and, as such, the subject of this article.
This article considers the history of Australia’s retirement savings regime, along with a framework for evaluating the superannuation tax concessions. It then discusses the recommendations of the Australian Future Tax System (AFTS) Review Panel and ensuing debate at the Tax Forum. Finally, it suggests two proposals to achieve the objectives of the AFTS Review in relation to retirement, those objectives being a system which is broad and adequate, acceptable to individuals, robust, simple and approachable, and finally sustainable. The first, whilst potentially requiring some ‘tinkering’, is relatively simple and a blue print has already been provided to the Federal Government – the adoption of Recommendations 18 and 19 of the AFTS Review.
The second is one of management. Superannuation concessions are fundamentally categorised as tax expenditures and the management of these tax expenditures, not just the reporting, should be undertaken.
Author profile
Prof Kerrie Sadiq CTA
Professor Kerrie Sadiq holds the position of Professor of Taxation in the School of Accountancy at the QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology. Kerrie’s primary areas of expertise are international tax, tax expenditures and capital gains tax. She is the co-editor of Australian Tax Review, an internationally recognised leading academic tax journal. She is author of publications in both Australian and International journals and edited books, including the Bulletin for International Taxation, Australian Tax Forum, Journal of International Tax, Canadian Tax Journal and the New Zealand Journal of Taxation Law and Policy. She is the general editor and co-author of leading taxation texts used in universities throughout Australia. Prior to joining Queensland University of Technology, Kerrie spent 20 years at The University of Queensland as a member of both their Law School and Business School. Academic Qualifications: • Doctor of Philosophy, Deakin University (PhD) • Master of Laws, Queensland University of Technology (LLM) • Bachelor of Laws, The University of Queensland (LLB (Hons)) • Bachelor of Commerce, The University of Queensland (BCom) Professional Associations & Designations: • Chartered Accountant (CA), Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand • Certified Practice Accountant (CPA), CPA Australia • Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA), Tax Institute (Australia) • Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD designation) - Current at 25 August 2020
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