Gary Belgre knows few Australians are as lucky as him to have more than $3 million in superannuation.
The 66-year-old says he is enjoying a "very comfortable" retirement in North Sydney thanks to earnings on his super.
The former consultant fully supports the government's plans to make him pay more tax on those earnings.
"The fact of the matter is if you've got more than $3 million … that's not just for a comfortable retirement — which is what superannuation was intended for — that is wealth creation going forward," Mr Belgre told ABC Radio Sydney.
"I just have enormous sympathy for the vast majority of Australians. They're hardworking, they're battling, and they're not lucky like me."
The federal government has announced it will double the tax rate from 15 per cent to 30 per cent on the nation's largest super balances which it estimates will affect about 80,000 Australians — or 0.5 per cent of the population.
There are about 11,000 Australians with more than $5 million in their account.
The higher tax rate applies to the earnings on balances over $3 million, rather than the entire amount, and would take effect on July 1, 2025.
Early sacrifices
Unlike Mr Belgre, Evelyn Stanz does not put her healthy super balance down to luck.
In her early 20s she worked three jobs — full-time professional work, waitressing at night, and market research on the weekend.
"I saved as much money as I could to put into super. I've never claimed a government benefit, I've paid all my taxes, I've never inherited anything, and I've worked really hard at making sure that what I had in my super was productive to provide for me," Ms Stanz told Mornings presenter Sarah Macdonald.
"I don't think it's fair that I should be penalised for not travelling, for not going out drinking, for not doing things that other people did."
Now aged 59 and working in wealth management, she has no plans to retire any time soon.
A fear of something going wrong later in life motivated her to build up her super balance.
"My goal was to make sure that I had some sort of buffer in the event that I had to be put into a nursing home or have doctors come to the house. I mean, all of that is really expensive."
She suggested the government consider an inheritance tax instead.
Tax increase 'reasonable'
Last year, the Association of Independent Retirees suggested a $5 million cap on super balances with a 30 per cent tax rate applied to any excess.
Association president Wayne Strandquist said the lower $3 million threshold was still reasonable, although it would make it "slightly more difficult" to have a comfortable retirement income.
He was concerned about the impact on couples sharing the one self-managed fund.
"Therefore effectively, rather than having only 80,000 affected, there would be potentially twice that number," Mr Strandquist said.
He was also surprised there would be no indexation, meaning the amount of people affected would grow and the real value of the earnings would diminish with inflation.
'System is wrong'
Kevin Gallagher, who is among the 0.5 per cent of top superannuation holders, supports the government's changes, pointing out the tax rate remains below the amount of tax paid by someone who has had to work full-time to earn the same amount of money.
"I'm retired, I'm comfortable, I've got no problems," the 72-year-old former marketing consultant said, admitting his views are not too popular among his wealthy friends.
Mr Gallagher said he was able to take advantage of generous incentives to build up his super balance while he was working and also owned investment properties.
"You're stupid if you don't take advantage of the system, but the system is wrong," he said.
He urged the federal government to go further to make the system more equitable such as increasing the capital gains tax — something Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out.
"There's people out there who are homeless. I see people sleeping in the street, under archways … and yet people are bleating about paying a decent amount of tax when they've got $3 million dollars in super," Mr Gallagher said.
"It's just not equitable."
