Prime Minister Tony Abbott says his government will never, ever increase taxes on superannuation, despite revelations it considered changes before Labor released its own policy.
Four submissions were put to Treasurer Joe Hockey from his department this year, a Treasury letter obtained by the federal opposition shows.
But Small Business Minister and acting Treasurer Bruce Billson insists it's just the normal course of government to consider ideas from officials.
"It's the job of government to decide which are worth pursuing and which aren't ... and that's what happened in this account," Mr Billson told Sky News on Wednesday.
The coalition has ruled out changes in this term and the next but Mr Abbott went further while addressing reporters in Williamtown.
"We have made a very clear decision that we aren't ever going to increase the taxes on super," he said.
Super belongs to the people and is not a "piggy bank" which should be raided.
"Labor always treats your money as their cash reserve," he said.
The opposition has proposed cutting superannuation tax concessions for high income earners, raising the budget $14 billion in a decade.
It would include putting a 15 per cent tax on super earnings more than $75,000 a year and taxing super contributions for incomes more than $250,000.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the government will always choose politics over policy.
"The government needs to learn not to just oppose ideas that the opposition puts forward," he told reporters in Melbourne.
The government could have told Treasury after the first or second briefing note that it didn't want to consider the idea, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said.
"The fact that there were four separate pieces of advice means the government was seriously considering it," he told reporters in Sydney.
Share
