Super shite is being flung again and those who have withdrawn money out of their super fund could soon get a “please explain” note from the one organisation (aside from the mafia) you don’t want to hear from — the Tax Office!

The Auditor General has been asked by Labor’s Stephen Jones, whose party is happy to look after the interests of the Industry Super sector, to look at how the ATO handled requests from Aussies to get early access to their super.

Many people seemed to think that the Government had said ‘if you think you need it, for your own sake and the sake of the economy, get it out’. And then spend like there’s no tomorrow because with this damn virus there mightn’t be one, unless you help rescue the economy.

However, there were fine print (or maybe bold print) eligibility rules. But most of us know a lot of Aussies don’t read forms well. The rules were that you could access the $20,000 from your super if:

1. You’d lost your job; or
2. You had reduced hours.

It was meant to help you and the economy get through this difficult period. And it has helped do that, with retail sales out this week for June up 2.7% after rising by an unbelievable 16.9% in May. In fact, retail trade is up 8.5% over the year. These are numbers you’d only see if an economy was booming!

But now the ATO has admitted it couldn’t properly check when people requested the money and simply accepted the applicant’s word.

Imagine the trouble for the ATO and the economy if the media highlighted careful public servants fiddling and slowly doing their job properly while the economy burned. The Tax Commissioner, Chris Jordan would have been portrayed as a new age Nero.

But now there’s going to be an audit and there could be a $12,600 fine and tax increases for withdrawing money that was only taxed at 15%. The tax slug would make you pay the tax rate you should’ve paid if the money wasn’t put into super at the concessional rate of 15%.

The latest from the ATO says it would be better if you ‘self-dob’ rather than getting caught out. This is going to be a dilemma for anyone who has broken the rules but didn’t know what the regulations were.

In reality, no one should be slugged $12,600. But they should be taxed at the higher rate if they’ve taken the money out for trivial purposes. Why should they get treated concessionally?

Well, apart from the fact that they could be like a lot of Aussies who simply can’t fill out forms, read documents and do anything that really requires something called thinking, the fact is these super ‘naughty’ people have been helping the economy.

They have been spending when both small and big businesses need us to spend. Every dollar spent helps keep businesses alive and workers potentially in jobs. There’s a huge concern that there are zombie businesses and therefore zombie workers being kept ‘alive’ only by JobKeeper. But we don’t know how many are out there and knowing the media, I’m sure they’re exaggerating it.

These naughty super ‘thieves’, who effectively took their own money, have done us a favour and could be breathing life into potential zombies.

I know I sound like an economist, but aside from something called inner happiness and love of life, economic growth is the next best thing for humanity. It provides jobs, successful businesses, material joy from products we love to have and services like travelling we love to do. Without growth, we’re unemployed, broke and under most circumstances, very depressed.

Growth also gives the Government taxes that we need to pay back the debt from this pesky, punishing pandemic.