Further delays on the progress of the bill that will introduce the Division 296 tax indicate the government lacks support for it to pass through the Senate and is continuing its efforts to persuade crossbenchers to vote for the proposed legislation.
SMSF Association chief executive Peter Burgess said following a recent visit to Canberra to meet with senators it was clear efforts by the financial advice sector to prevent the bill being passed in its current form have had an impact.
“On Tuesday I was in Canberra meeting members of the Senate crossbench. It was apparent from those discussions that some crossbench members had been approached by the government with a proposal to merge the $3 million super cap bill with a popular measure to remove credit card and debit card surcharges,” Burgess stated on the association’s website.
“This appears to be an attempt by government to convince the crossbench to either vote for the combined bill or stand against cost-of-living relief. Thankfully, it seems the Senate crossbench did not agree to this proposal.
“It is clear from my discussions that their concerns about this legislation run deep and our efforts to galvanise their opposition to it have so far paid off.”
He restated the association’s view that the tax bill was deeply flawed legislation and noted it was pleasing to see the Senate crossbenchers holding their ground on the issue to date prior to the pending second reading and debate in the upper house.
“We note the bill was scheduled to be debated in the Senate today, but has since been removed from the Senate order of business. We think this is a sure sign the government knows they don’t have the numbers to pass this bill,” he said.
“Given the unusual design of this tax and the system constraints of some of the large funds, there is no ‘quick fix’ to the issue of taxing unrealised capital gains, which is the primary concern of the Senate crossbench. So, it appears the government has a mountain to climb if deals are to be done to secure their vote.”
Any amendments made to the legislation in the Senate would also need to return to the House of Representatives for approval, which would occur with few obstacles as the government has a majority in that chamber, but would require more time for the bill to be passed prior to an election being called.
