26,700 low-income workers in Chifley to pay NO tax on super

@EdHusic MP, Federal Member for Chifley, replied to my tweet question:
that it will be applied "nationwide".

26,700 low-income workers in Chifley to pay no tax on super

November 14th, 2011

Over 26,700 workers in Chifley earning under $37,000 a year will effectively pay no tax on their superannuation, Federal Member for Chifley, Ed Husic said today.

"This will help hard working people, including mums working part time, contract cleaners, shop assistants, child care workers, hairdressers, aged care and disability workers, hospitality and bar staff, gardeners and many others on low-incomes," Mr Husic said.

The Low Income Superannuation Contribution will assist around 3.6 million low income Australians, who currently pay up to $500 a year in tax on their superannuation, save more for their retirement.

In particular, the superannuation savings of over 2.1 million Australian women, who tend to earn less than men, will be boosted by over $500 million in 2013-14 alone.

"There's no point working hard all your life only to retire poor," Mr Husic said.

"The 26,700 low income workers in Chifley will have the tax they pay on their superannuation automatically refunded straight into their superannuation account, without having to fill out a tax return or any other paperwork."

"Of course, the Coalition plan on scrapping this important reform, ripping away the extra retirement savings from these workers. It's about time Tony Abbott and the Coalition stopped saying 'no' to everything and did what is best for Australian workers."

A 30 year old permanent part time worker earning a quarter of the average weekly earnings, and who receives the contribution for 20 years of their working life, is projected to receive eight per cent more in real retirement benefits or around $13,000 extra in their superannuation account.

The Low Income Superannuation Contribution will assist around 26,700 low income workers in Chifley who currently receive minimal (or in some cases, no) tax benefit from contributing to superannuation, due to the 15 percent superannuation contribution tax being at or above their income tax rate.

From 1 July 2012, most low income earners will effectively pay no tax on their superannuation guarantee contributions and the tax refund will be directed into their superannuation accounts.

"Superannuation should be of benefit to every Australian worker, no matter how much you earn. The Gillard Government is making the superannuation system fairer by assisting workers on low incomes achieve financial security and build their wealth for their retirement," Mr Husic said.

http://www.edhusic.com/2011/11/14/26700-low-income-workers-in-chifley-to-pay-no-tax-on-super/

Managing Data Analysis with Multiple Conditions

SUM & IF ARRAY as an ALTERNATIVE TO SUMIFS

In Excel, when you need to retrieve data off a table based on a criterion, you can easily use a VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP formula. If you ever want to sum the entire data which meets that single criterio, you use SUMIF in place of VLOOKUP.

Now say you have a great big table of downloaded report (called "SourceData" tabsheet) detailing both sales and expenses information by Cost Centre and Department for the whole year of 2011. On another worksheet that you call "Summary", $A10 is the first criteria (say Cost Centre of your organisation) that is listed down from cell A10 to A30. B$3 is the second criteria (say Department of your organisation) that you placed horizontally from cell B3 to B8.

And so it goes that you need to sum up the data based on multiple criteria. Yes, you can use SUMIFS that unfolds like =SUMIFS(SourceData!$K$2:$K$1000,SourceData!$E$2:$E$1000,$A10,SourceData!$D$2:$D$1000,B$3). But what if you're still using the older versions of Excel (prior to 2007) such as Office 2003, 2002 (XP), or even 2000? You don't have the luxury of SUMIFS function yet. The solution is to utilise the "array flavored" combination of SUM and IF.

Using the same logic of working as SUMIFS, this array formula will generate the same results. It goes like this {=SUM(IF((SourceData!$E$2:$E$1000=$A10)*(SourceData!$D$2:$D$1000=B$3),SourceData!$K$2:$K$1000))}. The uniqueness (or perhaps eccentricity if you want to call it that way) of this formula is as follows:
1. The two criteria are combined by using the multiplication operator (which is "*") which functions like the "AND" condition where you tell Excel that both arguments MUST be met to return the result.

2. It is the IF function that actually enables this formula to have the 'array' flavor because what it basically does is to compare individually IF each cell on range E2:E1000 is the same as cell A10, AND AT THE SAME TIME comparing each cell on range D2:D1000 is the same as cell B3. If both IFs match, please sum all the data up. That's what you want Excel to do.

3. Beware, though, that you have to press CSE combo button (Control+Shift+Enter) for this array formula to work so that the curly bracket {} shows automatically which marks it as an array. Hence, please do NOT type the curly bracket yourself in the Formula Bar.

4. The shortcoming of using an array formula is that you can't copy paste downwards easily like you're used to doing very quickly. Excel will display an error message saying "You cannot change part of an array" - seemingly due to the fact that Excel doesn't even vary the semiabsolute cell addresses that we intentionally use in the formula so they could be carried forward when doing copy & paste. This means you'll have to paste (Ctrl+V) it one at a time throughout the working range. Luckily, you can still copy by row and paste it downwards rather than one for each cell!

In any case, this array combination formula nicely does the job of SUMIFS equally well although you have to put up with its few weirdos. Not bad, really not bad for an alternative as well as a good chance learning about array. (EJ - 19/5/11)

Calculating the proposed Mining 40% Tax

What is actually the resource super profit tax?  What real issue is at hand?

The Resource Super Profits Tax - what is it?

Glenda Kwek

May 11, 2010

The Resource Super Profits Tax is a 40 per cent tax on mining profits, which is in addition to the usual company income tax. It is planned to start on July 1, 2012.

How does it work?

Mining companies are allowed to subtract a tax-free allowance of 6 per cent from their existing earnings - called the RSPT allowance.

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In the first five years of the scheme, they can also subtract an accelerated rate of depreciation.

The remaining amount is taxed at 40 per cent - the "super tax". The remaining amount is taxed again, at 28 per cent.

For example

Revenue = $100 and

Expenses = $50

Your profit = $50

You can then subtract depreciation, with the allowance - set at 6 per cent.

So if RSPT allowance = $3

You are left with $50 - $3 = $47

The $47 is taxed at 40 per cent (the super tax).

So $47 x 0.4 = $18.80 and you are left with $ 28.20

The $28.20 is taxed again at 28 per cent (the company tax).

So $21.20 x 0.28 = $7.90 and you are left with $20.30.

That adds up to about a total tax of about 57 per cent.

How does it differ from the old tax regime?

*The royalties that resource companies have to pay to states now will be refunded by the federal government. Miners could argue that the royalties introduced uncertainty into the market as they were subject to change without notice.

*Company tax will be lowered from 30 per cent to 28 per cent.

*Resource companies can claim accelerated depreciationbefore the super tax kicks in, on prior investments for the first five years.

All new investment will be subject to the normal depreciation. The 6 per cent rate is applied here.

So do other industries have a similar tax regime?

Yes. The petroleum industry is one example. It has been operating under such a regime since the 1990s.

The difference is that it has a higher allowance - 11 per cent.

So why are there points of contention with the RSPT?

*It's not a super profits tax

Miners argue that the government is not just taxing more when it's boom time, but taxing more all the time.

"At the moment, it doesn't appear that there is this premium that comes in and out depending on whether these companies are making super or normal profits," UBS chief economist Scott Haslem says.

"That's the issue. It just appears like we have a higher marginal tax rate on every dollar forever."

*6 per cent allowance is too low

Back to our earlier use of numbers. What's at issue is the $3 (6 per cent of $50).

This 6 per cent is too low, miners say. It's how much return you get on an ultra-safe investment. But their investments cost a lot and are highly risky. They say they should have a higher allowance (which means a lower amount of money is taxed after the allowance is subtracted).

Petroleum companies, as mentioned above, have an allowance of 11 per cent. The resources companies are not arguing for such a high rate - but they do want something between 6 and 11 per cent.

(Note: The 6 per cent is calculated from the government's long-term bond rate.)

*$9 billion tax take a year

The resource companies dispute the government's figures that it will get $9 billion a year in super tax on miners.

$9 billion "is not a steady state long-term growth estimate", Haslem says. It's a lower tax take calculated when accelerated depreciation is taken into account. That means that if today's profits are replicated in five years after the regime kicks in, mining companies would be playing even more tax.

**Background on the RSPT was complied with the help of Scott Haslem, chief economist at UBS.

Source: SMH, 11 May 2010

If you want to read more:

The first hurdle: define a super profit

Who's next to cop a super tax  

New mining tax will cut long-term growth, UBS economists predict

Full federal budget coverage