Read this. Sounds a nice idea but it's a proposed attack on the super balances of the rich. A death tax. Take super from those who have an excess on death and give it to someone else rather than ones estate.
Imagine the scenario of a hard working professional in a high stress job. Accumulates a few million in super but can't access it until 70 because of changes to preservation. This person drops dead at 72. All of his super that this person worked hard for but was unable to spend is taken by the government to redistribute. This is how Labor thinks. The aged pension isn't enough for Labor, lets redistribute in death like we do in life. Watch this space, we are on a slippery slope. Australia is open for business and that business is welfare!
AAP MAY 09, 2014 8:33AM
FORMER prime minister Paul Keating, who crafted the superannuation system, has called for a longevity levy to support Australians aged 80 to 100 years old.
Mr Keating has proposed a Commonwealth insurance scheme that would guarantee people income support, aged care and accommodation when they reach the octogenarian stage of life.
Australians are living much longer and the superannuation pool "can never be big enough to sustain you till your 90s," he said.
"We can't try and pretend that like a piece of Indian rubber, we can stretch the accumulation from 65 to 95," he told ABC TV.
At the moment superannuation lump sums will have expired by the time people reach 80, forcing them to survive on the pension.
He said under the scheme he envisaged the savings of people who die early would subsidise those who last into their 90s.
"It's a classic insurance thing. It's like the houses in the street, you pay your insurance, but only one house burns down," he said.
