The Government appears to have missed the mark with its recent policy statements on retirement incomes and superannuation with most Australian super trustees and executives claiming the Government is not doing enough to encourage superannuation savings.
At the same time, a huge majority of people working in the super sector believe the Government needs to cut the tax regime applying to superannuation.
A survey of more than 200 executives and trustees working in the super sector has revealed that an extraordinary 91.8 per cent do not believe the Federal Government is doing enough to encourage super savings while 96.7 per cent believe the Government needs to cut the taxes being applied to superannuation.
The IUS/Super Review Outlook 2004 survey was conducted by independent economic surveying and advisory firm, Classical Economic Analysis on behalf of Industry Underwriting Services and Super Review.
Importantly for the Government, the survey was conducted in the month following Treasurer Peter Costello’s announcement of the Government’s new retirement incomes policy and the announcement by Opposition leader Mark Latham of the Australian Labor Party’s superannuation platform.
On a more positive note for the Government however, the survey indicated that there was growing support for choice of fund legislation, with 64.8 per cent of respondents indicating they would favour a choice regime.
What is also made clear by the survey is that respondents expect that the outsourcing of corporate superannuation will continue to have a marked impact on the sector, with most believing the industry is facing consolidation.
A strong 90.7 per cent of respondents agreed with the contention that the superannuation sector is facing consolidation, while a significant majority believed that this would be a good thing for the industry.
Asked whether consolidation would lead to an improvement in the industry, 64.4 per cent of respondents agreed this would be the case.
Senior analyst with Classical Economic Analysis, Dr Steven Kates, says the survey outcome reflects some exceptionally strong views on the key issues of Government policy with respect to both superannuation savings and the existing taxation regime.
“Normally, with these sorts of questions you find some equivocation on the part of respondents, but these results are very clear-cut,” he says.
Kates says the survey responses with respect to consolidation with the superannuation sector are more conventional, indicating that while the vast majority of respondents expect consolidation to occur, there are considerable differences of opinion on whether this will ultimately be a good thing.
