The accuracy of the content is not guaranteed. Please rely only on the authorised document. Kelvin Thomson - Shadow Assistant Treasurer Labor and the Australian Democrats have forced the Government to review superannuation taxation changes which require the segregation of assets supporting pension payments. "The Government's handling of this legislation has been utterly disgraceful. First, it has engaged in selective consultation with life insurance representatives, leaving out everyone else involved in providing superannuation. As a result the only people who supported the Bill in evidence before the Senate Committee were the insurance representatives. Everyone else - corporate funds, industry funds, do-it-yourself funds, ASFA, the Financial Planning Association, Certified Practising Accountants etc - opposes the Bill. "Secondly, this complicated Bill is supposed to take effect from Saturday 1 July this year, and yet it comes on for debate on Thursday June 29. It makes it impossible to get the Bill right in time (and the evidence to the Senate Committee suggests we can come up with a superior, agreed outcome) and it means that income stream providers are now operating in an uncertain environment. Assuming the representations from the life offices on this point are not simply a device to try to secure the passage of the legislation, this is a serious issue. "Senator Kemp said in evidence that he would discuss with industry ways of alleviating some of the complexity of the bill, that he 'hoped to work out a solution and that it was a complex issue.' He sought to put the Parliament in the position of passing a Bill that was so unsatisfactory that even he would not defend it on the basis that he would come back and fix it later. This position was quite untenable, and Labor and the Democrats have rightly rejected it. "Labor expects that the Government will now consult with the whole of the superannuation industry and come back with a better Bill. The Coalition may choose to be pig headed about this, and stand and fight on this issue. "My response to this is 'go ahead, and make my day.' "This Bill:- Imposes a capital gains tax on assets which are transferred to pay pensions - from a Liberal Government which campaigned so strongly against 'retrospective' capital gains tax in the 1998 election."If the Government wants a debate about such proposals, then lets have it," Mr Thomson concluded.
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