Labor's super tax at risk of manipulation
Experts have warned Labor's proposed superannuation tax is open to manipulation.
The Albanese government is pushing for superannuation accounts of three million dollars or more to be taxed.
One of Australia's biggest auditors, ASF Audits, is concerned about the manipulation of property and farm valuations.
The company's head of technical says wealthy Australians could avoid taxation by revaluing assets.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
22 minutes ago
- West Australian
ASIC boss Joe Longo warns trouble for super trustees who ignore his readings of the riot act
Australian Securities and Investment Commission boss Joe Longo has threatened trouble for superannuation fund trustees who fail to heed warnings to lift their game. After a swathe of negative reports and launching legal actions against high profile funds, Mr Longo said his team had read the riot act to an industry holding the trust and savings of millions of Australians. He claimed none of the trustees of 10 funds caught up in a recent review of death benefits claims had performance objectives for the end-to-end handling times, nor did they monitor this performance. Mr Longo told a regulator's lunch that the super industry had a 'solemn responsibility to protect the interests of all Australians, and to give them every confidence their money will be there, readily available, when it's needed'. 'To the extent that some trustees aren't across the data, systems, and processes of their funds, they're failing to live up to that solemn responsibility,' the ASIC chair said. And there would be trouble for any trustees 'who fail to know their business, inside and out, and to act in the best interests of their members'. Releasing its review of death benefit handling in March, ASIC said it found many examples of excessive delays and poor service, ineffective and insensitive communications and inadequate support for vulnerable claimants. That review was triggered by a tripling in super customers seeking help from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority between 2021 to 2022. ASIC reported what is described as a 'huge variation' in claims handling times across the 10 funds targeted. ASIC claimed 78 per cent of claim files had delays caused by processing issues within the control of fund trustees. Mr Longo said ASIC's work had laid bare governance challenges at super funds and exposed trustee blind spots around their data, systems and processes. The next phase of his agency's work with funds would involved addressing these boardroom blind spots. 'Our focus is on how trustees learn from — and respond to — the complaints they receive,' he said. 'No business can thrive without understanding the people it serves. To do this, it needs market feedback. And a primary source of this feedback is – and always will be – customer complaints. 'If you don't have the right information to make good judgements, you simply cannot govern effectively. It's that fundamental.'
West Australian
42 minutes ago
- West Australian
Sun sets on another state's solar home battery rebate
The scrapping of a $2500 solar panel sweetener has been defended by a state energy minister after critics labelled the move a "slap in the face". As a federal battery subsidy kicks in on July 1, NSW will replace its home battery installation rebate with a smaller incentive to create more virtual power plants. The move comes as other states power down their own battery incentives. Virtual power plants connect solar-powered batteries owned by households and small businesses to the grid, allowing owners to generate ongoing revenue by selling the excess energy stored in their battery when demand is high. The NSW government argues households and businesses will benefit by stacking the new scheme - worth up to $1500 - on top of the federal program, which slashes up-front costs by about 30 per cent. "The real value of virtual power plants is that we don't waste energy that's in the batteries," NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe told AAP on Thursday. But renewable energy advocacy group Solar Citizens said ditching the state battery subsidy on June 30 was a "slap in the face" for solar panel owners. They were promised up to $2500 in addition to the federal program if they invested in a home battery. "This surprise decision is a blow to solar-home owners planning to buy a home battery in coming months," the group's chief executive Heidi Lee Douglas said. She described the rebate's removal as a "betrayal" of the Labor government's election promise of the federal Cheaper Home Batteries program, which can be topped up with state rebates. "We designed the Cheaper Home Batteries program to be stackable with state incentives, and it is," a spokesperson for Energy Minister Chris Bowen told AAP. The $2.3 billion federal government scheme will subsidise the up-front cost of installing eligible small-scale battery by about 30 per cent from July 1. In Western Australia, solar battery customers are still able to receive both federal and state battery subsidies starting from July. But NSW follows other states turfing battery sweeteners. Victoria ended an interest-free solar battery loan worth $8800 in May while Queensland closed its $4000 battery rebate in December. Australia has the highest take-up of rooftop solar in the world, with panels on more than two million homes providing about 13 per cent of electricity needs for the national grid in the past year. The nation could slash $4 billion a year off power bills by the end of the decade if households embrace solar batteries in larger numbers, a Climate Council report found.
Perth Now
43 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Sun sets on another state's solar home battery rebate
The scrapping of a $2500 solar panel sweetener has been defended by a state energy minister after critics labelled the move a "slap in the face". As a federal battery subsidy kicks in on July 1, NSW will replace its home battery installation rebate with a smaller incentive to create more virtual power plants. The move comes as other states power down their own battery incentives. Virtual power plants connect solar-powered batteries owned by households and small businesses to the grid, allowing owners to generate ongoing revenue by selling the excess energy stored in their battery when demand is high. The NSW government argues households and businesses will benefit by stacking the new scheme - worth up to $1500 - on top of the federal program, which slashes up-front costs by about 30 per cent. "The real value of virtual power plants is that we don't waste energy that's in the batteries," NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe told AAP on Thursday. But renewable energy advocacy group Solar Citizens said ditching the state battery subsidy on June 30 was a "slap in the face" for solar panel owners. They were promised up to $2500 in addition to the federal program if they invested in a home battery. "This surprise decision is a blow to solar-home owners planning to buy a home battery in coming months," the group's chief executive Heidi Lee Douglas said. She described the rebate's removal as a "betrayal" of the Labor government's election promise of the federal Cheaper Home Batteries program, which can be topped up with state rebates. "We designed the Cheaper Home Batteries program to be stackable with state incentives, and it is," a spokesperson for Energy Minister Chris Bowen told AAP. The $2.3 billion federal government scheme will subsidise the up-front cost of installing eligible small-scale battery by about 30 per cent from July 1. In Western Australia, solar battery customers are still able to receive both federal and state battery subsidies starting from July. But NSW follows other states turfing battery sweeteners. Victoria ended an interest-free solar battery loan worth $8800 in May while Queensland closed its $4000 battery rebate in December. Australia has the highest take-up of rooftop solar in the world, with panels on more than two million homes providing about 13 per cent of electricity needs for the national grid in the past year. The nation could slash $4 billion a year off power bills by the end of the decade if households embrace solar batteries in larger numbers, a Climate Council report found.
