Message to Superannuitants re Tax Changes

Recently, in a speech to North Shore Grey Power, John Key outlined how tax changes would increase incomes for superannuitants.
The National-led Government is considering across-the-board personal tax cuts and changes to property tax as part of a tax package that might include a rise in GST from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent.
If the Government decides to increase GST, Superannuation payments will immediately rise in two separate ways.
1. Superannuitants would get an income tax cut, which would apply both to Superannuation and to any other income they receive, such as interest, dividends, or part-time earnings.
2. On top of this tax cut, Superannuation payments would be increased up front, by just over 2 per cent, to reflect the general rise in prices. The increase in Super payments would be immediate from the day GST went up, without waiting for the usual annual inflation adjustment.
This double-whammy increase means that superannuitants would have their incomes lifted quite significantly, and at a rate that exceeds the increase in prices.
In addition to the two immediate increases, across-the-board tax cuts would lift the after-tax average wage – raising the floor for Superannuation payments, which are linked to 66 per cent of the after-tax average wage. In his speech, the Prime Minister also reiterated that National is committed to maintaining Super payments linked to 66 per cent of the after-tax average wage from age 65.