Robert Breunig, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University e Tristram Sainsbury, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The unintended loophole allows some people to keep their income and cut the tax rate on some of it to 15%.
The government’s retirement incomes review should concentrate on boosting rent assistance and Newstart and fixing the pension assets test. These would achieve more than boosting super.
Michelle Grattan on the week in politics, including the travel ban, the royal commission into the bushfires, and labor’s stance on a compulsory superannuation guarantee and zero emissions by 2050.
In a speech on older Australians released ahead of its Wednesday delivery, Anthony Albanese claims that, with economic growth and productivity, Australians could see higher super and higher wages.
An examination of 80,000 enterprise bargaining agreements finds that on average 80% of each increase in compulsory super has been at the expense of wages.
People come in different shapes and sizes, which can make a one-size-fits-all retirement scheme uncomfortable.
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An old political maxim is to ‘never waste a crisis’, but sometimes a crisis isn’t enough.
We’re having children seven years later, getting married is eight years later, buying homes nine years later, and increasingly retiring without them.
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Josh Frydenberg’s review of the retirement income system will have to consider the growing hole caused by our decisions to delay buying homes for longer and longer.
This week’s Essential poll showed 56% of voters would prioritise stimulating the Australian economy over getting back to budget surplus.
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The inquiry will find we force workers to sacrifice income, pay tens of billions in super tax concessions, and still pay out one in every ten dollars of government earnings on pensions.
Superannuation has a smaller role in the retirement incomes system than is often suggested.
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Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
One of the questions is how much we need in retirement. Another is whether we need 12% compulsory super to get there.
Changes to superannuation legislation have had a cooling effect on arts investment in recent years. Image: An old bee farm (c. 1900) by Clara Southern.
National Gallery of Victoria
Don’t blame the global financial crisis. The Australian art market has performed poorly over the last decade - but there is plenty of growth potential.
“We’d be mad not to learn the lessons” of the election result, said Chalmers on Labor’s way ahead.
Joel Carrett/AAP
“The need for change is undeniable,” says Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, issuing a timetable for dealing with recommendations from the royal commission into banking, superannuation and financial services.
The avocado latte is indeed a thing, but young Australians are spending less on luxuries than they used to, while older Australians are spending more.
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A new Grattan Institute study finds that for the first time in a long time, young Australians are no better off than those who came before, and are likely to do worse.