Transport moguls threaten super sell-off over Labor's unrealised gains tax

The Australian

2 days ago

Transport moguls Kim Lindsay and Neil Mansell have revealed they are considering liquidating part of their self-managed super funds in response to Labor's tax on unrealised capital gains, as billionaire Lindsay Fox declares that Jim Chalmers' cornerstone tax policy will backfire.
Concerns have been raised that superannuants would change their investment and retirement structures before Labor introduces the tax, jeopardising Treasury's forecast that it will reap as much as $43bn over the next decade and help the Treasurer avoid deeper deficits.
Labor wants to introduce an unrealised capital gains tax starting with $3m superannuation accounts without indexation. The Greens, who will be needed to approve the tax, want the threshold to be even lower at $2m.
Mr Fox, a longstanding friend of Labor who had Anthony Albanese fly in his private helicopter to a five-hour barbecue with him and former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, said he thought Labor might change its mind on unrealised capital gains tax.
'I just think it is a bad policy,' Mr Fox told The Australian. 'I don't know why they would do it. It won't work.
'Everything the government does backfires. I just don't believe they will end up doing it.'
The intervention from Mr Fox, who did not reveal his own superannuation circumstances and whether he would try to avoid paying the tax, comes as participants of Dr Chalmers' economic reform roundtable have criticised the tax grab on unrealised gains.
One of the country's most respected business leaders and a key figure in Kevin Rudd's 2008 productivity summit, Warwick Smith, has warned Anthony Albanese to pursue any reforms agreed upon at the upcoming roundtable slowly, as the Prime Minister seeks to wrest back control of the summit from warring unions and corporate groups.
The comments by the Howard-era minister and Dr Rudd's 2011 pick for the Australia-China Council come ahead of Labor seeking to legislate the unrealised gains tax once the roundtable is concluded.
Asked about the concept of taxing unrealised capital gains and his reflections from Labor's last major productivity summit, Mr Smith said the government should learn from how John Howard implemented reform.
Mr Lindsay – recently retired chief executive of ASX-listed trucking company Lindsay Australia – said he was considering whether to sell down assets in his superannuation fund to reduce the balance below the $3m threshold.
'Its absolute bullshit,' Mr Lindsay said. 'People may as well just go on the pension. It's a disgrace. We are considering what we will do and whether to sell part of it.'
Trimming the size of the self-managed super fund below $3m is an option many are considering as they wait to see where Labor's threshold will land.
'Paul Keating introduced super and they encouraged us to get into it. But this tax will be a hell of a mess,' Mr Lindsay said.
Mr Mansell, who operates a 500-truck transport business, says he was encouraged by government to use a self-managed super fund years ago and is ­frustrated by the about-face of introducing unrealised gains tax.
He is now actively considering selling assets out of it not only to avoid being captured by the tax, but to raise money to pay it if he is liable. 'It's a terrible idea,' Mr Mansell said. Years ago we were pushed into this to save for our own retirement. I put a lot of it into industrial land but these are assets, how do you pay for the tax? So I think I might have to sell and if you sell you also have to pay capital gains. I can't believe Labor will go with it.'
The tax is expected to start with 87,000 individuals, but Labor's policy is forecast to affect at least 500,000 Australians by the time they reach retirement, according to the Financial Services Council.
The tax office has said it is aware that many of super­annuants would seek to minimise their tax if the new laws were introduced.
'We have seen some early suggestions that private groups may seek to alter their arrangements to limit their exposure to the proposed Division 296 tax in case the legislation is passed at a later date,' an ATO spokesman said.
'Our focus is on understanding emerging issues and ensuring we are well-positioned to respond to any risks that may arise.
'We analyse this intelligence to identify potential tax risks and determine how to tailor our support and engagement activities to address these risks.'
Embedded in Labor's legislation for the tax, which is yet to be reintroduced but will likely have a backdated start of July 1, are clauses that allow parameters of the tax to be adjusted.
In Labor's new super plan, known as the Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions and other Amendments Bill, is the clause 'section 296-60' which gives the Treasurer power to modify super tax rules further after the original bill is approved by parliament.
Some tax experts have suggested that concessions have been too generous for those with high net-worth accounts and that Labor's tax plan for unrealised gains was about righting a historic wrong.
Professor Miranda Stewart, who was a visiting adviser in the Treasury last year, said super­annuants should, 'just relax and pay the tax'.
'It's fixing a wrong. It's fixing a policy that has caused a significant problem we need to solve,' Professor Stewart said.
'How do you deal with the lag effects of what has been done in the past, which it feels like at least the Treasurer's reforms are partly trying to get to.' PM prefers small steps, not Chalmers' giant leaps Politics
Business leader Warwick Smith has warned Anthony Albanese to hasten slowly with any reforms agreed upon at the upcoming economic roundtable, amid warring unions and corporate groups. Politics
Anthony Albanese has dampened expectations ahead of the economic reform roundtable, insisting his government will not outsource decision-making to business leaders and unions.