Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I do not know how to describe a zero per cent tax rate as anything other than highly concessional. Obviously if you generate income and you pay zero per cent tax, that is the ultimate concession. When you have got a growing proportion of Australians at the higher wealth and higher income end that pay absolutely no tax on the income they generate then that means that every other Australian working for a living and saving and investing pays more tax than they might otherwise have to in order to cover the same level of expenditure. What we are seeking to do—and it is not just taxes at the higher end—is reform the superannuation tax arrangements as a whole, including providing better flexibility for low- and middle-income earners, and provide better flexibility, for example, for women, who might have disrupted work patterns, to enable them to come play catch-up when it comes to saving for their retirement using previously underutilised or unutilised concessional contribution caps and the like, providing something— (Time expired)