Scrap women’s super tax

If not this year what about ‘election year 2007’?

We should compensate women in retirement for their lifetime of lower earnings and lower retirement savings says Frank Gullone, a key superannuation administrator.

A Newspoll survey released a week before the Federal Budget showed that women earn an average 84 per cent of the male wage for doing the same job and are often denied employer super contributions in the early years of their working life and during childbearing years.

The survey also showed half as many women as men expect their superannuation to provide all or most of their retirement income.

While removing the 15% contributions tax from all superannuation is probably ‘not on’, Frank Gullone says it would not be unreasonable to consider removing it with respect to women.

“This would have less of an impact on Treasury and would redress the imbalance in women’s retirement savings,” he said.