Around half of Australians are supportive of the government’s plans to introduce the Division 296 tax on superannuation earnings, while those opposed to it number around one in four, according to a thinktank.
The Australia Institute stated polling conducted by YouGov on its behalf of 1535 voters last week found 52 per cent of Australians supported the proposed additional tax, while 26 per cent opposed it and 22 per cent were undecided or unsure.
Among the first cohort, 25 per cent of people said they ‘strongly support’ reducing the tax concessions for people with super balances over $3 million, while 27 stated they ‘support’ the measure, while in the second group, 14 per cent said they ‘strongly oppose’ the move and 12 per cent said they ‘oppose’ the impost.
The institute found around one in five people believe the change would impact their retirement plans compared to the one in 200 people who currently have super balances that will be captured by the tax if it commences on 1 July this year.
Australia Institute executive director Richard Denniss said the level of support was not unusual given the size of the superannuation balances of most of the population.
“Given that most Australians have less than $200,000 in super, it should come as no surprise that the vast majority of ordinary Australians don’t share the hysteria about this small change expressed by some very vocal critics,” Denniss said.
“This polling shows that the wailing of the worried wealthy, which has dominated much of the media coverage of the government’s proposed changes to superannuation, has not translated into any widespread concern among the 99 per cent of Australians who have less than $3 million in super.
“Young people who can’t afford rent, young families who can’t afford childcare and older women retiring with little or no super are all facing much bigger and more pressing problems than a small reduction in tax concessions on the superannuation balances of the richest 1 per cent.”
He said the polling also found the new tax was supported by people the Liberal Party failed to connect with at the recent federal election.
“One of the most interesting results is that independent voters, the voters who have cost the Liberal Party so many of their once safest seats, are the most supportive of Labor’s proposed changes,” he added.
“While it is up to the Liberal Party to decide which people and which problems they want to prioritise, it’s surprising that so soon after losing a record number of young voters and women voters, that [opposition leader] Sussan Ley would choose to make such a big fuss over an issue that overwhelmingly affects wealthy older men.”
