Labors Super Money Grab Described As ‘Stupidity of the highest order” By Gerry Harvey

Australians who are only now waking up to the potential impact on their Super Funds that the proposed Albanese Labor Government and Treasurer Jim Chalmers money grab will have on their

savings, have a new ally with retailer boss Gerry Harvey going into bat for them claiming that the new tax is “stupidity of the highest order”.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Treasury who engineered the money grab with proposed unrealised capital gains tax initiatives, in an effort to fund Labors splash the cash Federal Election

campaign have been described as “desperate” by Gerry Harvey.

Talking to the Australian the Chairman of retailer Harvey Norman said, “The inevitability about all this is that the government has to raise taxes because they can’t stop spending,” Mr

Harvey said.

Labor wants to introduce an unrealised capital gains tax beginning with superannuation funds worth more than $3m, without indexation.

The move will hit tens of thousands of average Australian and retirees with many already looking to shift their money into overseas accounts or locations where it would not be subject to the

new tax with consumers using overseas linked credit cards to access the funds.

As awareness grows of the unintended consequences of the new tax, Mr Harvey added his voice to the debate, saying he knew people who would have to pull their money.

He described the tax as “stupidity of the highest order” driven by a government that was “desperate for revenue.”

“The inevitability about all this is that the government has to raise taxes because they can’t stop spending,” Mr Harvey said.

The Australian claims that in 2022, just before the centre-left government of Norway increased similar wealth taxes to 1.1 per cent, hundreds of Norwegians left the country.

The Norwegian tax was meant to raise millions of dollars in additional tax revenue, but as more people left it resulted in an estimated fall of $US448m annually.

It also had an impact on retail sales in Norway according to analysts.

Chalmers refers to the new unrealised gains tax as a “modest change” on eight occasions at one press reference when announcing it and has continued to use the descriptor during recent

questioning.

What he is punting on is that newly appointed Greens leader Larissa Waters will use her party support to get the proposed legislation through the Senate.

Macpherson & Kelly wealth adviser Nicole Treacey told the Australian that people over 60 had plans not only to pull assets from super but potentially to move overseas fearing an unrealised

capital gains tax could be introduced on family trusts or even the family home.

“If it passes in its current form, I know a lot of people have ­already started contingency planning for this, and they are ready to execute those plans as soon as they know that this law is

likely to pass,” Ms Treacey said.

“Anyone having to find an extra $500,000 to pay an unplanned tax bill, such as a primary producer, is unlikely to view these changes as modest,” she said. “It’s looking increasingly likely

that these proposed changes are going to proceed. We are still hopeful that they might be amended before they go back before parliament. It is not too late for the government to take on

board the feedback of the business community and make some sensible changes to this legislation.”

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