‘Special rules’ will exempt Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from super tax, senator James Paterson says

The newly appointed opposition finance spokesman is accusing Jim Chalmers of writing “special rules” that will exempt Anthony Albanese from Labor’s super tax until after the Prime Minister retires.

Critics have blasted the Albanese government’s proposal to roll back concessions on ultra-high super balances as a tax on unrealised gains that would penalise younger generations down the track.

Only half a per cent of Australians – some 80,000 – have super balances north of $3m.

But James Paterson on Thursday said taxing people for profit they had not received was “a really significant violation of an important tax principle that you don’t tax paper profits, that you only tax profits that people actually receive, that actually materialise”.

Senator Paterson warned that it was a “fiscal failure” that “all Australians are going to bear”.

Under the policy, super accounts above $3m would be slugged with an extra 15 per cent on earnings, pumping $2.7bn into Commonwealth coffers annually, according to Treasury estimates.

But federal politicians enrolled in defined benefit pension schemes might not need to pay until after they retire, the Australian Financial Review has reported.

Conceding the legislation was likely to be passed with the support of the Greens, Senator Paterson said that “won’t stop us arguing against it because we think it’s wrong in principle”.

“And we think it is even worse that it has failed to be indexed by the government, so over time, it will eventually capture average working Australians, not just wealthy Australians,” he told Sky News.

“And we think it’s really frankly dodgy that Jim Chalmers has written special rules into the regulations that will exempt his boss, the Prime Minister, from paying this tax during his working life on his defined benefit pension, unlike every other taxpayer who will have to pay this if they cross that threshold.”

It was revealed earlier this month that a handful of judges and former state-level officials would be exempt from the tax.

“Those earnings in superannuation funds that the constitution prevents being taxed by the government will be excluded,” a government summary document reads.

Labor ministers have insisted everyone eligible would pay the tax regardless of their status.

Senator Paterson nabbed the finance portfolio in Sussan Ley’s new-look shadow cabinet on Wednesday.

He took over from fellow Victorian senator Jane Hume, who got bumped to the backbench after a blunderous performance during the federal election campaign.