Superannuation not so super for women alone

Retired men aged 55-64 years have around 1.7 times the disposable weekly income of retired women in the same age group.

Yet according to the Productivity Commission report, the contribution of mature-aged women to total hours worked in the economy has increased from 6 to 15 per cent over the past three decades. Much of this includes part time and casual employment.

This is not to suggest that single or divorced men will live on 'easy street' post retirement. I simply states that the probability of women who suffer divorce, have no inheritance, who have children and work part time or casually, are candidates for penury in old age. They simply were not in a position to accrue sufficient superannuation.

What we do know is that in 2008, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), for the first time on record there were more older women than men in homeless shelters.

This may be attributed to higher rates of divorce and separation and the tendency of women to be in lower paid jobs. This has in turn created a housing crisis for women in their fifties and sixties.

If the Government eliminated the superannuation tax concessions for upper income retirees and redirected some monies towards employment programs for mature age females, this would knock off the rough edges of living on low weekly income.

Australian taxpayers contribute $27 billion a year in superannuation tax concessions (about the same as what the age pension costs) that enable some retirees- whose homes are paid off and children gone - to enjoy a tax-free income higher than that earned by many people with young children, and mortgages and tax to pay.

The tax concessions on superannuation are fundamentally inequitable because they're not taxed at the marginal tax rate. It's a 15 per cent flat rate. The "tax effectiveness'' of super is most stark for those on incomes of $180,000 and more- those who earn up to $37,000 get nothing.

Richard Denniss and David Baker of The Australia Institute, in a report titled What Price Dignity? explain the system this way:

"If taxpayer support for superannuation was provided in the form of annual cheques rather than less transparent tax concessions, a person earning $30,000 per year would receive a cheque for $0.00 while someone making the compulsory 9 per cent contribution on an income of $200,000 per year would receive a cheque for $5,400 each year."

As Bette Davis said, "Old age is no place for sissies," but unlike the famous millionaire film actress, tens of thousands of Australian women who raised a family, who sacrificed their own careers and worked in part time or casual jobs, cannot look to retiring in comfort without the wolf hanging around their front door.