The complexity of the current super system requires all parts of super to ensure the government does not “stuff it up”, while the SMSF industry should be working towards protecting and safeguarding the sector, according to the Tax Institute.
“The SMSF sector is an extraordinary growth industry and one that we need to protect and guard very carefully,” Tax Institute senior tax counsel Robert Deutsch said at the opening of the association’s National Superannuation Conference in Sydney last Thursday.
“I’d make two comments in regards to the broad context of super and the first is that I think what we need to do during the course of the next few years is to ensure that government does not stuff this up by making this more complex than it already is.
“It’s a terrible shame that superannuation has evolved in the way that it has – as such a complex mess for ordinary taxpayers – so we need to be careful that we don’t stuff this up by making it so complicated and so unwieldy that people will just turn their backs on it.”
In addition, while generally superannuation was huge, it was not universal, Deutsch said.
“There is not universal coverage, so we need to ensure that the broad spectrum of the Australian community gets the super that they need and deserve,” he said.
“I’ve said in previous papers and media commentaries that [there is] disparity in super between men and women, in particular single women who are now in their early 50s are facing a very bleak future in terms of super.”
Deutsch revealed the future of the tax profession was the latest issue the association was examining.
