In his best-selling book Good to Great, company success expert Jim Collins says legendary business builders start with a big hairy audacious goal. Right now, PM Albo and Treasurer Jim look to have a super audacious plan to use our super money to KO their Budget problems.

Right now, Labor is hoisting the flag to see if they can get away with changing super to take away tax concessions, which we’re told costs the Budget each year around $53 billion! And one group in particular are in for a tax shock of Anthony Albanese proportions.

They are going to get the ‘Bill shock’ that was predicted when Bill Shorten was trying to become PM, when the nation used to love one Scotty Morrison.

Bill went after both super’s franking credits and investors in property and I recall one of my stories “Sorry kids, Bill wants to wipe out your inheritance”was the most read story I’ve written for Switzer Daily.

To try and predict Labor’s super future, let’s start with the 11,000 Aussies with more than $5m in their super. The early flag-raising idea from Treasurer Jim Chalmers for us to consider is that those 11,000 Aussies with over $5 million in their super funds cost the Budget $1.5 billion each year. Labor is hinting that there needs to be a cap that applies to all super funds. Any super money above the cap would then be taxed at traditional tax rates.

The AFR’s Michael Read reports: “The Grattan Institute has called on Labor to limit superannuation balances to $2 million per person, in a move that would raise the cash-strapped federal budget at least $2.8 billion annually.”

Also a potential target are those concessional contributions or salary sacrifice payments into super, where wages and salaries that should be taxed at 32.5%, or 37% or 45%, is instead taxed at 15% for anyone earning less than $250,000 a year.

This costs the Budget $21.8 billion a year, while the 15% tax on super earnings and the 0% tax on retirees’ earnings hits the Budget for $26.4 billion each year!

What we’ll hear and read is that old chestnut — “the cash-strapped Budget” — and the implications of the pandemic lockdown will be used to justify these super changes, which will be another reason to get stuck into Scott Morrison and his former Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Political parties are good at blaming each other for having to make us take tough medicine.

To be fair, most Treasurers of all political persuasions would’ve loved to hit super and its generous tax concessions but smart politics and scared Prime Ministers would’ve told them to back off. I don’t think Jim is going to be totally scared off and Albo looks like he reckons there are many non-Labor voters who could be relieved of their super tax concessions because they will never vote for him!

This makes the Budget in May, potentially scary for many wealth-builders and is bound to make my financial planning work a lot more complicated.

So what could be on the table to frighten those using super to build wealth or maintain wealth in retirement? Try these:

1. A limit on how much you can have in super and the leftover money will face the usual tax rate.

2. Less salary sacrifice available.

3. Or salary sacrifice contributions will be taxed at a higher amount.

4. The tax rates of 15% and 0% could be tinkered with for some superannuants.

5. Laws will be passed to stop future governments allowing early access to super, as it happened in the 2020 pandemic lockdowns.

6. The $50,000 that first homebuyers can get out of super for a home deposit.

Mr Chalmers and his party, who are very close to the industry super funds, who don’t want the money they manage leaving for homebuying purposes, will keep reminding us that super “is to preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement, alongside government support, in an equitable and sustainable way. The ‘preservation of super’ was to ensure superannuation contributions should not be accessed unless as retirement income.”

This is a gutsy play by Albo and Jim. They will have to be careful who they target — after all, wealthy retirees have sons, daughters and grandchildren who don’t like their grandparents’ super rifled by governments, which in turn shrinks their potential inheritance.

This Labor play might make the once thought unelectable Peter Dutton look like a potential PM!

One thing Jim must remember, if he takes away the reasons why people built up their super, is that his hero of super — Paul Keating — made super compulsory. This made us give up our money, reduce our exposure to our beloved real estate and help reduce our dependence on government pensions.

Right now, all super takes 10.5% of working taxpayers’ income each year that makes home ownership, monthly loan repayments and enjoyable life experiences before retirement harder. So, making super rules and concessions less generous could annoy a lot of voters.

To be fair, some super concessions are very generous but when governments dangle something appealing and then take these attractions away, they are doing what scoundrel retailers have been banned from doing. It’s called ‘bait and switch’, which is never a good look for a politician or a political party that has to go back to the voters every three years to get re-loved.

Jim and Albo must be very careful with their super changes.