Well your "done a fair amount of work on my own figures" is...

Well your "done a fair amount of work on my own figures" is either completely wrong or you don't realise what other retirees do or have paid in taxes.
The current pension for a retired couple in Australia is a total of $1381.40/ fortnight or $35,916.40 annually.
This welfare payment is paid directly to a pensioner couple.
For a single person it costs the welfare system even more at $916.30/fortnight or $23,826.40 annually.


For a self funded retiree to obtain this amount from a SMSF they would need to have a total of $800,000 minimum in the fund. IF, Self funded retirees were required to pay tax on the earnings of $35,916.40 held outside superannuation then using normal tax rates they would pay zero tax anyway.
There is a tax free threshold of $18,200 for everybody.
For a self funded retiree couple to get a $35,916.40 handout via paying no tax these self funded retirees would need to earn $8,400/fortnight to pay the amount of tax equivalent to the pensioner welfare payment.
ie the pensioner gets a $1,381.40 in fortnightly welfare payments V a self funded retiree tax saving if no tax is paid.
For a self funded retiree with a SMSF to get the equivalent tax free benefit as a pensioner handout the self funded retiree would need $4.5 million invested.
But you need to remember the self funded retiree needs the money to be in superannuation otherwise if the money is earned outside super then it is still taxed.
For a SMSF member couple to have $4.5 million in their fund you can be sure that most of the funds have been deposited as non concessional contributions. Therefore its possible that most of the funds have already been taxed at the 40c in the $1 ie non concessional contributions . The Superannuation rules don't allow huge sums like this to be deposited via concessional contributions even via max amounts every year.


Therefore, I say that its almost impossible for a self funded retiree to cost the Government through lost taxes as much as it costs to keep pensioners sucking on the public tit. I know a lot of people will say that its their entitlement, but there lies the problem.
Its definitely NOT cheaper to have retired people sucking on the public tit.

People need to be more self reliant and should only need welfare in the most dire of circumstances.
I don't mean to be rude, but obviously my children have had a different upbringing and the thought of not being self reliant goes against the grain. My youngest is 25 yrs and has just purchased her first home, now a qualified architect and saves every $$$ she can to repay more than her loan repayment.
My kids are definitely NOT " little spendthrifts would rather have folding stuff for smashed avos now."