Bowen tells PM to stop scaring pensioners
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has hinted Labor will do more for pensioners when in government while telling Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to stop scaring people when attacking the opposition's policies.
Mr Bowen said the government is using the same misleading tricks about Labor's proposed changes to dividend imputation as it did with the opposition's planned changes for negative gearing.
Labor plans to end cash handouts for non-taxpaying shareholders on their dividend credits, saving over $5 billion a year and impacting more than 200,000 people.
Mr Bowen said the prime minister thinks if people have a very large superannuation balance but don't pay tax, they have a low taxable income that should be protected by the government.
"A lot of the income people receive in retirement is tax-free; by definition, people are on low taxable incomes, even if they have very significant superannuation balances," Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
He said data released by Industry Super Funds show 80 per cent of savings from Labor's reform comes from the wealthiest 20 per cent of retirees, while 50 per cent comes from the top 10 per cent of self-managed super funds.
"So I say this to Mr Turnbull: 'Stop your silly scare campaign. Scaring Australia's pensioners is an irresponsible thing to do'," he said.
"We are always looking at ways of helping pensioners. We will have plenty more to say about pensioners."