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Greedy Oldies Rorting Pensions

by Whaleoil on September 26, 2012

One popular explanation is that they are used for illegal transactions as part of the cash economy, something the former Reserve official, Peter Mair, rejects as a “furphy”.

In a letter to the Reserve Bank governor, Glenn Stevens, dated July 4, Mr Mair laid the blame squarely on elderly people wanting to get the pension and hiding their income in cash to ensure they qualified for the means-tested benefit.

“The bank is basically facilitating a tax avoidance scheme by issuing high denomination notes,” he told the Herald. “They are not needed for day-to-day transaction purposes, or even as reasonable stores of value.”

The answer apparently is to get rid of $100 and $50 notes.

Facepalm.

How about getting rid of a taxpayer funded ponzi scheme that encourages people to spend all their money and appear as poor as possible in order to avoid being means-tested?

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  • Adolf Fiinkensein

    I think this is nonsense. If you examine the level of assets that is available you’ll find it is substantial. Many hundreds of thousands. As far as income goes, I’m aware of many pensioners here who do odd jobs for cash and even one some unscrupulous employers who try to con them into working for ten bucks an hour. (I told him to fuck off and find a mug somewhere else.) The pension is abated at the rate of 25c in the dollar for income over $125 (I think) per week. so the net result is that to receive no pension you have to have an income of nearly $60k.

    Oldies hoarding cash? Ridiculous. They can use their capital for major purchases anyway without affecting their pensions.

    • Rebecca

      Agreed. Oldies with means don’t salt it away as cash, they shift everything including the family home to trusts and then plead poor. I had a relative who boasted about how he’d Couffabled everything of value into the ether so that his residual poverty entitled him to copious home help and expenses. Seems amazing that people who valued hard work and fairness all their lives can be like this, or that he would think it fair that other peoples’ kids are paying his costs to preserve an inheritance for his own kids. Maybe we’ll be even worse when the time comes.

  • unitedtribes

    Mate of mine decided he didnt want to collect his super because he was wealthy enough anyway. He changed his mind on that one when he found out that the Govnt was going to tax him on it regardless. He did try to be a good guy though

  • Patrick

    How about massively scaling back welfare – & student loans?

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