The Australian Tax Office has reported that employers shortchanged Australian workers a record amount of super last year.
And not just by a little bit. The dollar figure of superannuation that went unpaid after recovery efforts rose to $5.2bn from $4.8bn in 2022-23
Of that, $1.4bn is likely to go unpaid because it is owed by insolvent companies.
Still that’s just under $5 billion going missing from our super balances. Now imagine the situation was reversed and workers were taking that sort of money from employers. There would be outrage and possibly jail terms, certainly people would be dragged to court to pay it back. Do you ever hear about that for employers though?
According to a Super Members Council analysis of the new figures, the gross amount of super unpaid (excluding recoveries) over the last three years was about $18.6bn.
Seems like the burden only goes one way. Super is not voluntary. It’s mandated, call it what it is, this is theft.
Should there be higher penalties for super not being paid?
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