Election Battleground - Your Retirement Savings!

For the first time in my life, I watched the budget reply speech in May. The problem is, both Government and Opposition budget proposals are now purely election promises. With the Election called for 2^nd July, the Federal Government has moved into Caretaker mode.

After many years of limited or non-existent superannuation reform, the dramatic drop in resources revenue has turned the Government and Opposition’s eye toward the enormous pot of over $2 trillion dollars of concessionally taxed superannuation.

While the Government provided very clear direction and specific amounts, the Opposition focussed on more general changes.

So how do the different parties Election promises stack up? I have prepared a brief summary to outline the main changes.

Table sourced from Aaron Dunn, thedunnthing.com

So the main winners from both parties are those with low income earners and those with low account balances, whereas high income earners (over $250,000) are slugged an additional 15% tax levy for contributions made to super. Also a popular strategy – the Transition To Retirement Pension – is under the microscope by both parties however Liberal have made their policy very clear the good times will be over with this terrific tax reduction strategy.

Since both Election platforms were announced, we are already reading about changes and alterations before the election, so don’t rewind any of your implemented strategies just yet!

So buckle up for 8 torturous weeks of political campaigning in the lead up to the federal election.

Darren Foster, Senior Financial Planner, Paris Financial

Follow me on Twitter @darren_df