Burnside's death duties may not be popular, page-52

The Super examples are contentious and not clear cut and straightforward.

Here, below 1/- , is one example which I've seen several close examples of in the workforce.

Many retirees, who don't draw an aged pension, have not had high paying jobs and yet are funding their own retirement but you'd have them on all the Aged Pension if you had your way because you'd get salary sacrifice contrib's taxed at PAYE rates!

e.g, 1/-

Take someone recently retired who was earning a low level income of a $55,000 wage on retirement but had taken advantage over two decades of Salary sacrifice to keep his/her income tax down and solely due to that had put aside enough in Super Account for a small $40 p.a Super pension to fund his retirement for 8-10 years and has a few investments which means he/she does not draw the aged pension from the gov't.

So if this salary sacrifice wasn't available he'd be an aged pensioner now but if he doesn't draw down all from his remaining Super accumulation account his beneficiaries will pay either 17% or 32% Super Death Tax on that accumulation acc, balance.

He/she did pay 15% Contribution tax to the ATO on those contrib's and also tax on earnings in the fund @ 15% all paid directly to the ATO.

At what point of time do you say the Super balance should become ALL his/her own money that he/she has earnt herself, with no residual tax due to the ATO.

 Since you don't consider this Super Death Tax [which is paid to the ATO] to be an inheritance tax, then I assume you think it's just a catch up on ongoing ATO income assessments he/she has underpaid over several financial years tax assessments and still owes as a newly deceased, not quite cold, taxpayer!

Except the law unfortunately for you dictates it is imposed on spouses and adult children by the ATO.

If only the ATO leeches could tax the dead as well?

 Oh, wait they do that too!