Morrison accuses Labor of costing retirees $3.75 billion

Treasurer Scott Morrison has claimed that Labor’s dividend imputation refund policy will cost Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) regulated superannuation funds $3.75 billion, as he again hit out at the Opposition’s “bungled and damaging retiree tax”.

According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), franking credit refunds in 2015-16 were worth over $300 million to APRA-regulated funds. Morrison said that when consideration is taken for the fact that these funds would not only lose income but also couldn’t make returns on it, the real dollar cost of the policy to such funds would have been $3.75 billion over the last decade.

Morrison said that, despite Labor’s “so-called” pensioner guarantee, pensioners whose APRA funds were affected would not be exempt from the policy.

“Labor's proposal is an old-fashioned Labor tax sledgehammer targeted at pensioners and retirees to grab as much tax as possible because they can't live within their means and control their spending. It's a tax on low and middle-income Australians and their future retirement nest eggs,” Morrison said.

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He hit out at Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen, for standing by the policy despite its possible impact on retirees.

“Remarkably, Chris Bowen released a statement today confirming and bragging about the fact billions of dollars would be wiped from hundreds of thousands of super accounts, that pensioners won't be exempt and that Labor doesn't care,” Morrison said.

“Rather than patting himself on the back for ripping billions out of the retirement savings of pensioners and retirees, Chris Bowen should put his hand up, admit his proposal stinks and drop it.”