AustralianSuper CEO Paul Schroder pushes back against Labor's unrealised gains tax during Australia's Economic Outlook
The Albanese government's proposal has drawn backlash from business leaders, economists and an array of politicians who argue the tax will hurt business growth and eventually capture ordinary Australians.
AustralianSuper CEO Paul Schroder was questioned about the tax during a Q&A at Sky News and The Australian's Australia's Economic Outlook.
Sky News' Business Editor Ross Greenwood pressed the boss on whether he felt this was bad policy, but Mr Schroder did not explicitly reply.
However, he did say AustralianSuper "prefers less changes than more changes".
He also said he "would never do anything to anyone else who's trying to make good super".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also pressed about the superannuation tax earlier on in the event, but he remained certain.
'The proposal that was put forward, we put forward in the last term. It would affect just a very small number (of people),' Mr Albanese said of Labor's proposed super tax changes.
Asked if he would consider indexing the tax or removing the tax on unrealised capital gains, Mr Albanese declined.
A new report from Wilson Asset Management shows Labor faces an almost $20b blow from its controversial proposal to tax unrealised gains in a self-inflicted setback against its productivity agenda.
It says an array of companies that are either small growth businesses or startups will forego $19.73b in tax revenue to the government over four years as fewer firms reach profitable maturity.
The report states there are 611,823 companies in Australia that turn over less than $2m per year and would need financing through a self-managed super fund or via personal contributions.
If each small company contributed an average of $15,015.91 in tax per year to the government, the total tax revenue would be $9.19b of annual corporate tax from these companies.
WAM estimates the taxing of unrealised gains would lead to a potential 53.7 per cent decline in tax revenue from innovative companies, bringing the corporate tax from these small companies down to $4.93b per year.
This brings the total losses to $19.73b over four years due to Labor's decision to target unrealised gains.
Alongside the unrealised gains tax, other areas of tax reform were also touched on during the forum.
Mr Schroder demanded reform for small businesses which struggle with a complex array of taxes.
'If you're a business in Australia, there's about 100 different taxes you have to pay,' he said.
'How stupid is that.'
He said the government needed to introduce tax reform that bolstered productive small-medium size businesses.
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