red baron wrote on Feb 10
th, 2019 at 8:15am:
Shorten's unbridled grab for retiree's incomes with the 'franking business' on company tax
This will rip around $5,000 (average) out of modest incomes that retirees, people on modest incomes who have provided for their own retirement, receive
This comes from interest from their incomes on invested funds, the average sum is $400,000
By doing this these retirees save the community from providing them with aged pensions
With his wrecking ball approach, which in no way punishes the wealthy. Shorten is going to encourage people who have saved for their retirement to go and blow their money then put their hands out for the Government for a pension
Is this in the interests of the Country...NO! It is downright irresponsible and will create a future enormous drain on the economy
You've not been watching very closely when the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government have tried cutting the aged pension in various ways in every single Budget they've handed down. I have not seen any government that has been so hostile to aged pensioners with cuts, cuts and more cuts.
And you think cutting back on the wealthfare of refundable franking credits is "irresponsible"? Hardly. What's irresponsible is leaving this largesse in the Budget, to grow and grow and grow, year on year, at rates greater than inflation, racking up more and more debt that has to be paid for by everyone else. It's not sustainable so it has to go eventually.
Labor's been quite responsible by giving plenty of advance notice. Not like the lying Abbott who specifically said "no change to pensions" before the 2013 election then unleashed a pile of horror cuts on pensioners in the 2014 Budget with no advance warning at all, and more in every Budget since under Abbott and Turnbull.
We've seriously buggered up retirement and pension incomes for retired Australians. It's ludicrous nonsense that retirees on part pensions lose 50 cents in the dollar for every extra dollar they earn, while retirees on far more generous incomes get to keep almost all of their tax-free income. It is blatantly unfair and it's time it was looked at.
A fairer system: abolish the means tests for the aged pension, abolish the tax breaks for self-funded retirees. Everyone of pension age gets the aged pension when they retire, with all the pension benefits, tax free. Any extra income is taxed normally (the first $18200 is not taxed due to the tax free threshold, etc.) This is still bloody generous; they would be earning over $40000 a year before paying any tax and getting a raft of concessions. It wouldn't cost any more than it costs now. The savings would accrue through lower administration costs. Yes there would be winners and losers, but that's normal when a taxation playing field is levelled.