Superannuation Tax Concessions Poorly Targeted

Question: Discuss about the Superannuation Tax Concessions Poorly Targeted. Answer: Introduction It is considered that any country which possesses a sound taxation system has stable economic growth because it helps the government to collect a sizable income from the citizens of the country in tax. In the previous times, the government needed reasonably low funds as compared to the present scenario due to manifold increase in government functions. The initial requirements were limited only to the security of the citizens. However, in the current times, the responsibilities are much wider and thus, the administration wants sizable funds to dispel these. There are many ways for collection of requisite funds but the most suitable, continuous and appropriate source is through taxation (Treasury, nd). It can be stated on the basis of the above facts that analysis of the present taxation system is imperative in regards to determine the array of the current objectives of the same. A critical analysis will also be conducted in this research essay in order to evaluate the current tax regu lation and status of the tax system in Australia. The relevant suggestions will also be provided to sustain a more sound taxation structure. Central Objectives of the Existing Taxation System The funds collected through taxation are considered the main resource for the government in order to sustain the expenses incurred on the public amenities. However, this taxation system is not simple and thus, not easy to operate because the aim of the government is not limited to collection of revenue. The government has to collect the requisite funds from the taxpayers and meanwhile has to take care that there would not be any overburden on the taxpayers. It is essential on the part of the government to maintain a delicate equilibrium between these two aims in regards to ensure that there would be an effective tax scheme along with satisfaction of taxpayers (Treasury, nd). It is pivotal to review and analyse the tax system in a periodic manner so that the government ascertains whether the respective provisions of the tax system are effectively meeting the goals and objectives. Moreover, the government also makes necessary amendments required to make the tax process more effective a nd cause less tax burden on the residents (ACOSS, 2015). Prudent allocation of the scarce economic resources as per national priorities is another imperative goal of the government, which is essentially carried with the help of differential tax rates applicable. The government varies the tax rate for product to product or service to service as per the consumption pattern or type of the product or service. This is termed as differential tax rate process. The variation in the tax rate (differential tax rate) causes different pattern of the burden on the resident. This can be viewed with the help of an example. If government wants to lower down the consumption of narcotic products (tobacco, cigarettes) in the country, they usually increase the tax burden on such products. Similarly, minimum tax burden on the products or service is incorporated by the government, whose consumption needs to be expanded. These variations in the consumption pattern by the government causes shift in the manufacturing pattern and thus, help the government to utiliz e the economic resources in more effective way (Treasury, nd). Taxation is also essential for lowering the difference between the financial status of the individuals (poor and rich people). The government always wants to reduce this difference and hence, the income of the individuals is redistributed through taxation system. To incorporate this scheme, the government establishes a progressive tax structure, which levies higher tax rate on those individuals with high income level as compared to the poor people. This scheme is essentially for collection of significant portion of the income (tax) from the rich tax residents which then could be utilized to provide the necessary public services to the deprived residents. This progressive tax rate scheme not only brings in high revenues to the government but also improves the purchasing capabilities of the poor individuals (CoA, 2008). The government also has put in place a transfer system, which facilitates the requisite services to the poor people by transferring the significant tax amount to the lo cal or state government to function the same. This tax transfer system supports the needy individuals like children, old age people and handicapped and maintained a social security to them (CoA, 2015). Evaluation of the Current Tax System In a bid to enhance the revenue from taxation, the Federal government has incorporated additional taxes in the tax system particularly the following in the last two decades of the 20th century. Capital gains tax (CGT) Goods and service tax (GST) Mixed results have been obtained from adoption of the new taxes in the system. On one hand, these have led to significant increments in the revenue but on the other hand have contributed to increased complexity in the current tax system. The government has held discussions with the stakeholders to minimize the complexity and streamline the tax system. However, this has not proved to be very effective (ACTU, 2011). This complexity causes very high costs (billions of dollars in terms of compliance cost) for the potential taxpayers and thus adversely impacts their willingness to pay taxes besides enhancing the overall burden. The below illustrated graph provides an overview about the average filling cost by the Australian taxpayers in the past decade (CoA, 2015). The compliance costs have sharply increased during the time period 2000-2010. The government has lost some financial resources in the form of compliance costs. Moreover, the taxpayers are not willingly supporting the tax regime due to high compliance cost and hence try to find ways to escape tax liability. It has also been observed that the obscurity in the tax system causes negative effects in regards to fulfilling the central objectives of government (ACOSS, 2015). This is apparent in the form of tax incentives such as CGT exemption and negative gearing provided for enabling affordable housing for the poor. These kinds of provisions are most of the time counter-productive as the rich individuals invest in real estate, which causes boom in price of the houses by enhancing the overall demand. Thereby, the poor persons are unable to purchase the house and even cannot afford to rent a house. Further, the wealthy individuals affordability of houses is not adversely impacted. There are two major consequences of this provision especially faced by the Federal Government. The first is that the government has issued significant tax expenditure and thus, results in huge loss of revenues running into billions of dollars. Additionally, the house affordability is adversely impacted and house rents keep on climbing as a result of which the government has to provide incremental rent assistance to the downtrodden (ACOSS, 2015). The IMF suggests that in order to achieve a sound system of taxation, one should reduce the tax expenditure because inappropriate tax expenditure causes erosion of its efficiency in the tax system. However, the recommendation proposed by the IMFs has not been adopted by the Australian policymakers and thus results in high tax expenditure. The below mentioned graph illustrates the high tax expenditure incorporated by the Australian government as compared to the other countries (Thornbill, 2015). On the basis of the above facts, it can be cited that the current taxation and transfer system of the Australian government is quite complicated and has failed to do justice with the respective central objectives of taxation system as discussed earlier. Recommendations It has been found that there are many taxes in the current taxation regime which have very limited contribution to the tax revenue but cause significant complexity in the tax system. Therefore, it is essential to lower down such taxes and focus only on those taxes, which have high contribution to the tax revenues. It has considered that there are four basic taxes, which leads to approximately 90% of the total tax revenues. Thereby, the central aim of the government should be to sustain these taxes more efficiently. These four basic taxes are as highlighted below (Treasury, 2013). Tax imposed on income of the taxpayers i.e. both individuals and businesses Rent tax particularly for usage of state held economic resources in the form of royalty Goods and service tax (GST) Capital gains tax ( CGT) Further, taxes rather than the above mentioned taxes must be eliminated in order to make effective and simple tax system. The other critical aspect is to minimise the excessive compliance costs.. It has found that in regards to resolve the above issue, one should increase the maximum limit on individual tax exception to $25,000. The amount of compliance costs are much higher than the tax amount paid by the taxpayers whose, income is lesser than the above mentioned amount. Hence, the end result is counter productive (ACTU, 2011). In the process of simplifying the tax system, the government should sanction the offsets. Also, the respective payments of the employees should be decided on the basis of the benchmark rate. Additionally, reasonable participation payments need to be extended to the concerned labour force, which are not being able to participate. The collected tax revenue must be offered to the specified population based on the various threshold limits. Moreover, the transfer system should be automatic indexed to inflation so as to ensure that the transfer payments take into consideration the co st of living (CoA, 2015). It is pivotal to reduce the corporate tax rate gradually from 30% to 25% in order to sustain significant investment and ventures in Australia. The requisite modification and review is required in the dividend assertion policy with reference to corresponding policies in the OECD countries (BCA, 2014). It is essential to reduce the additional tax revenue losses which would be incurred by reduction in corporate tax rate and thus, must be counterbalanced with the rationalisation of the tax expenses. The net tax can be enhanced by increasing the female contribution, which can be improved by providing low cost (affordable) child care services for all category individuals. Diversification in the human resources also needs to be improved, which can be obtained by providing the financial help and several employment opportunities to the disabled, skilled and disadvantaged group of individuals (CoA, 2008). The existing transfer system must be modified, which includes the pension distribution system, family assistance scheme and so on. In the modern age, asset testing technique is used to extend the pension and the respective allowance to the population, which at times is inappropriate. Thus, effective steps must be taken for the family assistance policies, which contains the fair transfer of the fund to the needy and has to be distributed as per the age group and necessity of the children (CoA, 2008). It is noteworthy that there are several incompetent taxes in the current state tax structure. Further, there is inadequacy on imposing GST especially on the monetary services and thus, need to be replaced by a specified monetary services tax. This can be implemented with support of the concerned parties and authorities. The respective payment system must be substituted with the source rent tax with a rate of 40% per annum (Treasury, 2013). These are essential recommendations for the bette rment of the existing taxation and tax transfer system. These measures would enlarge the annual tax revenue along with lowering the tax burden on the Australian taxpayers. Conclusion It can be concluded on the basis of the stated arguments and research analysis that the existing tax and tax transfer system has several objectives, which include fair and effective distribution of the economic resources, enlargement of the tax revenue, efficient redistribution of the income along with the dispersion of the funds to the needy and helpless group of individuals. Based on the analysis, it can be cited that the existing taxation system is considerably complex and is overburdening for the taxpayers. Moreover, the system at times is inefficient in order to satisfy the objectives of the government. Therefore, it is essential to adopt the requisite amendments in the existing taxation and tax transfer system to make it more simplified and effective. References ACTU 2011, Paying our Way: Personal income tax in Australia. Australia Tax Paper No.4 , pp. 4-37 BCA 2014, The future of tax, Business Council of Australia, Available online from www.bca.com.au/.../Future_of_Tax_Australias_Current_Tax_System_FI (Accessed on December 5, 2016) CoA 2008, Architecture of Australias tax and transfer system, Commonwealth of Australia, Available online from https://taxreview.treasury.gov.au/content downloads/report/architecture_of_australias_tax_and_transfer_system_revised.pdf (Accessed on December 5, 2016) CoA 2015, Tax Discussion Paper, Commonwealth of Australia, Available online from https://bettertax.gov.au/files/2015/03/TWP_combined-online.pdf (Accessed on December 5, 2016) Treasury nd, 2.4 The objectives of taxation, Australian Government, Available online from https://comparativetaxation.treasury.gov.au/content/report/html/04_Chapter_2-03.asp (Accessed on December 5, 2016) Treasury 2013, 2.10 Administration of the tax?transfer system, Australian Government, Available online from https://taxreview.treasury.gov.au/content/Paper.aspx?doc=html/publications/papers/report/section_2-10.htm (Accessed on December 5, 2016) ACOSS 2015, Fuel on the Fire, Australian Council of Social Service, Available online from https://www.acoss.org.au/images/uploads/Fuel_on_the_fire.pdf (Accessed on December 5, 2016) Smith, L. 2015, Superannuation tax concessions poorly targeted: ACOSS, Sole Purpose Test Blog, Available online from https://www.solepurposetest.com/news/superannuation-tax-concessions-poorly-targeted/ (Accessed on December 5, 2016) Smith, G. 2013, Australian tax reform: Post-Henry, CEDA Council on Economic Policy, Available online from https://adminpanel.ceda.com.au/FOLDERS/Service/Files/Documents/15436~gregsmith_ccep032013_web2.pdf (Accessed on December 5, 2016) Thornbill, A. 2015, Our tax systems not so progressive ACOSS, Private Briefing Website, Available online from https://privatebriefing.com.au/2015/01/24/our-tax-systems-not-so-progressive-acoss/ (Accessed on December 5, 2016)