SMSF Assoc frustrated by Senate review of $3m tax cap

The Senate Economics Legislation Committee chaired by the Australian Labor Party Senator, Jess Walsh, has been accused of not providing enough time for industry stakeholders to give their views on the Government’s $3 million super tax cap.

The SMSF Association has told its members that it is disappointed that it was not given sufficient time to raise its concerns about the unintended consequences wrapped up in the Government’s policy.

SMSF Association chief executive, Peter Burgess used a message to members to vent the organisation’s frustration.

“While we acknowledge the time constraints faced by the committee when hearing evidence from many different organisations, we were disappointed not to have had more time to raise our concerns about the many unintended consequences of this new tax which were outlined in our submission to the Inquiry,” Burgess’ message said.

“As we explained to the Inquiry, there will always be unintended consequences with an earnings tax which is not based on actual taxable income, and we don’t believe these unintended consequences have been properly considered,” he said.

“We were also disappointed not to have had more time to respond to representations made during the Inquiry which suggested that the freezing of superannuation thresholds was common superannuation policy and appeared to downplay the significance of this new tax for primary producers and small businesses.”

“We also regret not having been afforded more time to reframe discussions which focused on SMSF’s purported lack of liquidity instead of addressing the tax’s volatile nature given its link to market fluctuations,” Burgess said.

“The SMSF Association will be making a supplementary submission to the Inquiry to explain why we strongly disagree with some of the primary assertions made and to raise our concerns about the reliability of some of the data submitted.”