PROVISION FOR RETIREMENT – WHO DOES WHAT?
Distribution Of Superannuation Contributions, Lump Sum Payments and Capital Incomes of Tax Filers 1995‑96:
New National Estimates
Julie Tinnion
Retirement Income Modelling Unit
Paper presented to the Sixth Colloquium of Superannuation Researchers,
University of Melbourne
9 & 10 July 1998
Conference Paper 98/1

The Retirement Income Modelling Unit
C/- Department of the Treasury, Parkes Place, Parkes, ACT, 2600
email:  jtinnion@treasury.gov.au
website:   http://www.treasury.gov.au/rim/

PROVISION FOR RETIREMENT – WHO DOES WHAT?
Distribution Of Superannuation Contributions, Lump Sum Payments and Capital Incomes 
of Tax Filers 1995‑96:  New National Estimates
Julie Tinnion
Retirement Income Modelling Unit

ABSTRACT
People provide for their retirement using both superannuation and other financial assets.  This paper presents the results of a RIM study into the distribution of superannuation contributions, superannuation pensions and annuities, lump sum payments and superannuation contributions received by individuals who filed personal tax returns in the 1995‑96 income tax year.  The study has generated considerable information about these distributions by gender, age and taxable incomes of tax filers.
The data show that men are making more financial provision for their retirement than women in most age groups.  Average taxable incomes, employer superannuation contributions, superannuation pensions, eligible termination payments and gross dividends received by women are less than those received by men in most age groups.  Average gross interest and net rents received by women tend to be higher than amounts received by men.
Most superannuation contributions, private pensions and capital income amounts broadly increase with taxable incomes.  There are some lower local peaks in capital incomes which might be influenced by the prevalence of retirees in a particular taxable income group.
Although per capita saving for retirement peaks in the 45 to 54 age group, the 35 to 44 and the 55 to 64 age groups are also making substantial provisions.  The low average value of ETPs and the small numbers of people receiving non government superannuation pensions suggest that policies aimed at increasing private provision for retirement are desirable.

I would like to thank my colleagues in the RIM Unit and others who provided comments on this paper.  The RIM Unit would also like to express its appreciation to the Australian Taxation Office for providing the data on which this paper is largely based.
The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the RIM Unit, Commonwealth Departments or the Government.

PROVISION FOR RETIREMENT – WHO DOES WHAT?
Distribution Of Superannuation Contributions, Lump Sum Payments and Capital Incomes Of Tax Filers, 1995-96:  New National Estimates
Introduction
People provide for their retirement using both superannuation and other financial assets.  This paper outlines the results of a study looking at distribution by age, gender and taxable income of superannuation contributions, superannuation pensions and annuities, lump sum payments and capital incomes for 1995‑96 income year tax filers.  For this purpose, tax filers are individuals who submitted 1996 personal income tax returns to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
The study’s aim is to provide insights into amounts of superannuation contributions and sources of capital income for individual Australians, and to make these findings publicly available.  Unique data sets and models available to the Retirement Income Modelling Unit (RIM) were used to provide a level of disaggregation not elsewhere available.
Policy Context
The distribution of superannuation contributions, lump sum payments and capital incomes is important in the context of the three pillars approach to retirement incomes policy, the introduction of the savings rebate and the enhanced preservation rules announced in the 1996-97 Budget.  
The three pillars are well known consisting of compulsory superannuation savings in the form of the Superannuation Guarantee which will be increased to 9 per cent of earnings by 2002-03, encouragement of voluntary savings including through the savings rebate and substantial tax concessions available for superannuation savings, and the means tested age pension which, together with other social security arrangements, provides income support for those individuals who have had limited opportunity to save for retirement during their working lives.
The savings rebate will provide a significant incentive for saving in the form of member superannuation contributions and earnings on capital and as such will make a major contribution to the Government’s retirement income policy framework.  It will be available to all taxpayers including those who are part rate pensioners or self funded retirees if they receive taxable returns from their savings and investments.
At the same time, the announced changes to preservation rules are necessary to reduce the still significant leakage of funds from the superannuation system before genuine retirement.
Data Sources
This study uses a data file provided by the ATO, synthetically merged with an uprated version of the the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Superannuation Survey and with data derived from the RIM long term aggregate projection model RIMGROUP.
Details of these data files are:
•	The ATO file.  The ATO provided an anonymous 1 in 25 unit record file, sampling records taken from those of all individuals who submitted a personal income tax return for the 1995-96 financial year.  This file provides details of age, sex, income, deductions and rebates.  No personal identifying details were given to RIM.  This detailed file allows RIM to disaggregate the Taxation Statistics published by ATO and undertake the distributional analysis in this study.  The file contains 396,652 individual records, which have been multiplied by 25 to represent a total population of 9,916,300.
In the context of this study, the tax file provides direct information on deductible ‘self employed’ superannuation contributions, ‘non government’ Australian superannuation pensions and annuities, the superannuation rebate for superannuation pensions and annuities from a taxable source, Government age and other pensions paid to individuals who submit tax returns, Eligible Termination Payments (ETPs) of various types, payments for unused leave on termination of employment, gross interest, gross dividends, the investment deduction (for costs incurred in earning dividends and interest), net rental income, taxable bonuses paid to individuals by life companies and friendly societies, and net capital gains.
•	RIMGROUP: The RIMGROUP Model is a comprehensive cohort projection model of the Australian population which starts with population and labour force models, tracks the accumulation of superannuation in a specified set of account types, accumulates non superannuation savings, and calculates tax payments and expenditures, social security payments and the generation of other retirement incomes.

For this study, RIMGROUP was used to impute an employer superannuation variable onto the ATO File to give an aggregate of Superannuation Guarantee payments, voluntary employer superannuation contributions and salary sacrifice for the sampled individual records.

Further details on the RIMGROUP model are contained in Gallagher (1995) and in particular Attachment A in Rothman (1997).

•	ABS 1993 Superannuation Survey:  RIM has a 30,000 record highly disaggregated file from the ABS 1993 Superannuation survey giving details of personal contributions to superannuation funds, type of employer coverage, wage income, labour force details, retirement intentions, and details on previous and intended use of lump sum and roll over vehicles.  This unique data set was used to provide initial information on voluntary (non tax deductible) member contributions to impute a member contribution variable onto the ATO file.  The methodology for using this data is outlined in the relevant section below.
Definitions and Methodology
Superannuation Contributions
Member superannuation contributions are voluntary superannuation contributions made by employees.  These contributions are in most cases not eligible for a tax deduction.  The initial data for member contributions was obtained from the ABS 1993 Superannuation Survey data set.  This data has been ‘uprated’ for wage movements and to RIMGROUP totals to determine reasonable aggregates before merging the data with the individual ATO file.
Employer superannuation is an aggregate of compulsory superannuation contributions made under the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) legislation, and ‘voluntary’ employer contributions including under salary sacrifice arrangements.  These contributions are generally but not in all cases tax deductible up to the age based contribution limits.  RIMGROUP was used to determine the appropriate distribution to create a suitable variable to merge with the ATO file.
Self employed superannuation contributions are those tax deductible contributions which have been included on personal income tax returns together with an imputation for the amount of superannuation contributions not deductible (where eligible individuals contributed more than $3000).  This imputed amount was added to the appropriate variable on the ATO file.  The definition of self-employed person for this purpose is an individual whose income from employer-employee related employment is less than 10 per cent of their total income for the year.  The maximum allowable deduction is the first $3,000 of the superannuation contribution plus 75 per cent of the amount of the contribution over $3,000 subject to the age based deduction limits that apply to employer contributions.
A distributional analysis was done on these three variables included in the ATO file by age, gender and taxable income using the SAS programming language run on a UNIX platform to process the data.
‘Non Government’ Australian Superannuation Pensions and Annuities
The ATO file includes information on Australian superannuation pensions and annuities paid by superannuation schemes including for retired public servants, operated by superannuation funds, life companies and so on.  These can be divided into those paid from a taxable or an untaxed source by taking account of the annuity rebate provided in tax returns.  Since 1 July 1994, a flat 15 per cent rebate has applied to all superannuation annuities and pensions paid from taxable superannuation funds to those aged over 55, or as a death or disability annuity/pension.  It has been assumed that where a superannuation annuity rebate amount has been included on a tax return then the whole of the pension or annuity received by that individual is from a taxable source.  Where no such rebate amount has been included the whole of the pension or annuity amount is assumed to have been from an untaxed source regardless of the person’s age.  If the person is less than 55 and not receiving a rebate, it has therefore been assumed that the pension is from an untaxed source.  A distributional analysis was again done by age, gender and taxable income.
Eligible Termination Payments (ETPs) and Payments for Unused Leave on Termination of Employment
ETPs are generally lump sums usually paid on retirement, termination or resignation from employment and are taxed differently from other income.  They are broken down into a number of components (although not all ETPs have every component).  ETPs can be paid to a complying superannuation fund which defers the tax on the payment until it is withdrawn.  Each component is taxed in a different manner and may be subject to various rebates as broadly summarised in the table overleaf.
The results of this complex taxation treatment are simplified in the ATO file into four categories: the 5 per cent assessable component, a concessionally taxed component, an excessive component and the remainder.  The 5 per cent assessable component contained in the tax file has been multiplied by 20 to determine the total amount of such ETPs actually received.  No information is available from the ATO file on components which are taxed at zero per cent.  A distributional analysis was again done by gender, age and taxable income.
Components Of Eligible Termination Payments in 1995-96

Component	Assessable Amount	Tax Rate (plus Medicare levy except *)	
Post June 1994 invalidity	0%	- *	
Concessional component	5%	Marginal	
Non-qualifying component of an immediate annuity	100%	Marginal	
Excessive component	100%	47%	
Pre July 1983	5%	Marginal	
Post June 1983 – pre-age 55
- taxed element
- untaxed element	
100%
100%	
Max of 20%
Max of 30%	
Post-June 1983 – 55 years plus
- taxed element $0-$83,168 (in 1995-96, indexed annually)*
- balance
- untaxed element $0-$83,168 (in 1995-96, indexed annually)
- balance	
0%
100%
100%
100%	
- *
Max of 15%
Max of 15%
Max of 30%	
Undeducted Contributions	0%	- *	

Capital Income
For the purposes of this study total capital income is defined as including net personal income from savings and investment (the concept being ‘unearned’ income less allowable deductions relating to that income).  Capital income thus includes gross interest receipts and dividend income (grossed up by imputation credits) less an investment deduction, net rental income, net capital gains, assessable life insurance and friendly society bond bonuses, net business income including from partnerships and trusts, non government superannuation pension and annuity income and foreign attributed income.  Net rental payments are rental incomes net of both interest and other allowable deductions.  This data was directly available from the ATO file and a distributional analysis again done by age, gender and taxable income.
Results
Table 1 over leaf provides a breakdown of the estimated total population of tax filers by gender and taxable income into age groups.  The proportion of tax filers in the under 25, 60 to 64 and over 70 age groups for men and women and the 55 to59 age group for women only are less than the proportion in the total population in Australia, while the proportions in the 25 to 34, 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 age groups are larger than in the population.  For the under 25 age group this would be due to the high percentage of people who would not yet have commenced employment.  For the 60 to 64 and older age groups, the reason would be the number of people who have retired from the labour force and are not receiving sufficient taxable income to be required to file a tax return.
The table also shows that women’s taxable incomes are generally below men’s.  About 32 per cent of women and 52 per cent of men earn above $25,000, while about 26 per cent of women and 18 per cent of men less than $10,001.  The proportion of women with taxable incomes above $30,000 is around 22 per cent while for men is around 42 per cent.  Less than 4 per cent of women and just under 13 per cent of men have taxable incomes above $50,000.  
One interesting feature of this table is that there are now more female than male tax filers aged 75 and over, probably reflecting their greater longevity and inheritance of income producing assets.

Superannuation Contributions

Superannuation contributions by gender, age groups and levels of taxable income are shown in Tables 2 and 3 over leaf.  Table 2 shows that by far the largest group of individuals with superannuation contributions are employees receiving contributions from their employers.  About 64 per cent of all tax filers (6.3million individuals) received employer superannuation.  The number of members making non deductible contributions on their own behalf is about 2.9million individuals, 46 per cent of the number with employer contributions.  2.3 per cent of all tax filers (225,725 individuals) make ‘self employed’ superannuation contributions.

For women, the largest average contributions are made as self employed contributions except for the 18 to 24 age group where employer contributions are largest.  For women under 55 employer contributions are larger on average than member contributions.  For women aged 55 to 74 employer and member contributions are of the same order of magnitude.  For women average member contributions increase with age except for those made by the 60 to 74 age groups.  For men, employer contributions are larger than member contributions for all age groups.  However, the largest average superannuation contributions are made by the self employed aged under 18 and those aged 45 and over.

Table 3 shows that for women the highest average contributions are made by the self employed except where taxable incomes are negative.  For women receiving positive taxable incomes below $50,001 employer contributions are higher than member contributions, while for higher taxable income groups member contributions are higher.  For men, again the highest average contributions are made by the self employed for all except those with negative taxable incomes.  However, employer contributions are always higher than member contributions for all taxable income groups.  Apart from those with negative taxable incomes, for both men and women, employer and member contributions generally increase with taxable income.

Superannuation Pensions and Annuities

Tables 4 and 5 overleaf provide information on Australian superannuation pensions and annuities received by men and women for age groups and taxable income groups respectively.  The tables do not include allowances for the undeducted purchase price of the annuity or allocated pension, nor do they reflect crediting rates to allocated pension accounts.  Non-government pensions and annuities are taken to include pensions received from Commonwealth or State Government superannuation schemes such as the Public Sector Superannuation (PSS) scheme or Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme.  Table 4 shows that approximately 4 per cent (395,950 individuals) of tax filers are receiving an Australian superannuation that is ‘non-government’ pension or annuity. Less than 11 per cent of the population in the 65 and over age group receive a private pension.  This number will increase as the superannuation system matures over time.

Direct Commonwealth Government pensions are shown separately and include the sole parent pension, age pension, carer service pension, age service pension, invalidity pension, partner service pension, widow B pension, bereavement allowance, mature age allowance, mature age partner allowance, disability support pension, disability wage supplement and wife or carer pension.  The amounts shown here are amounts paid to tax filers only.  The majority of people receiving such direct Government transfers would not be included in these tables as they would not be required to file a tax return.

As alluded to earlier in this paper, private pensions or annuities may be paid from a taxable or an untaxed source.  Untaxed sources are most likely to be Commonwealth or State Government superannuation arrangements (for public servants) where the superannuation scheme has not paid income tax while the benefits were accruing.  When pensions or annuities are eventually paid from such sources no rebate is given to the recipients of such income.  As would be expected, the number of recipients of non government pensions increases with age up to the 65 to 74 age group and then declines for both men and women.

The same pattern is seen for direct Government pensions paid to tax filers.  Approximately 25 per cent of female tax filers and 30 per cent of male tax filers in the over 75 age group are receiving a non government pension.  Average pensions are lower for women than for men in all age groups.  In addition, while more pensions are received from an untaxed source than from a taxable source for all age groups, the average size of these pensions is smaller.

Slightly less than 8 per cent of all tax filers receive some direct Government pension payment.  The highest total amount and second highest average amounts are received by the 65-74 age group.  The highest average amounts are received by those over 75.  Women receive higher averages than men in older age groups because more women than men receive single rate pensions as age increases.

Table 5 overleaf shows that the majority of women (approximately 50 per cent) receiving non government superannuation pensions or annuities are earning taxable incomes of between $10,001 and $20,000 with about 19 per cent earning between $15,001 and $25,000.  For men the comparable proportions are 35 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.  The average pension for women earning between $10,001 and $15,000 is $6,433.95  and for women earning between $15,001 and $20,000 is $11,440.48.  These amounts for men in comparable income groups are $7,630.07 and $12,839.5 respectively.  The patterns are similar for non government pensions and annuities from both taxed and untaxed sources.  Some high income earners declare direct Commonwealth payments (perhaps because of confusion with Commonwealth superannuation Pensions) but the majority of recipients earn taxable incomes of between $5,401 and $20,000.

Eligible Termination Payments

Tables 6 and 7 overleaf provide details of ETPs and payments for unused leave received by men and women for various age and taxable income groups.  Approximately 5 per cent of tax filers received ETPs in the 1996 income tax year.  Proportionately less were women.  4.5 per cent of female tax filers and 6 per cent of male tax filers received an ETP in 1995‑96.  The average size of ETPs generally increase with age for both men and women, the notable exception to this trend being for women in the over 75 year old age group.  Even for older age groups the average size of ETPs is too small to provide a retirement income.  Women of all ages receive much smaller ETPs on average than do men.
The total value of ETPs received by younger people is of concern to the extent that these represent leakages from the superannuation system.  72 per cent of total ETPs were received by women aged less than 60.  For men, 61 per cent of total ETPs were received by individuals aged less than 60.  The total value of such ETPs taken by individuals aged less than 60 was $4.16 billion in 1995-96.  More ETPs are taken by men aged 35 to 44 than any other age group.  Women in the 25 to 34 age group receive more ETPs than any other age group although the average amounts are small.

Capital Incomes

Table 8 above provides aggregate and average capital incomes for men and women by age group.  Some capital income is received by 73 per cent of tax filer women and 72 per cent of tax filer men.  Aggregate levels of capital income women received were less than for men in all age groups except women aged 75 and over (reflecting the higher number of men than women in this age group).

Women in most age groups receive less average capital income than men.  The exceptions are women under 18 and aged 60 to 64.  The differences are larger both in amount and in proportion for younger age groups.  Unsurprisingly, capital income received increases with age with one exception.  Women aged under 18 receive more capital income than women in the 18 to 24 and 25 to34 age groups.  Aggregate capital income received is highest for the 45 to 54 age group for both men and women, and average capital income is highest for those over 75 years of age.  

Table 9 above looks at total capital income by gender for different levels of taxable income.  For nearly all taxable income groupings total capital income is less for women than for men.  The only exception to this is for people earning taxable incomes of $0 to $5,400.  The lower average for women compared to men thus reflects the greater proportion of women in this taxable income group.
For all taxable incomes below $30,001 women’s average capital incomes are less than for men.  However, for taxable incomes above $30,000 the average levels of capital income are higher for women than for men, while total capital incomes are lower.  This reflects the smaller number of women receiving high levels of taxable income.  As would be expected most people earning high levels of taxable income also earn at least some capital income (around 93 per cent of men and 98 per cent of women earning over $100,000).  However, for lower taxable income groups lower proportions earn capital income (around 56 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women earn capital income in the $0 to $5,400 taxable income group).
Table 10 overleaf provides averages for various net capital income types by gender for different age groups.  For women under age 60 and men under age 65, average partnership and trust income is highest followed by average dividend and interest income.  For women 60 and over and men 75 and over average dividend and interest income is highest.  For women aged 60 to 74 and men 60 to 64 partnership and trust income is the second highest average capital income followed by superannuation pensions.  For men aged 65 to 74 superannuation pensions are the second highest average capital income.  For all people aged 75 and over superannuation pensions are the second highest average capital income source after dividends and interest, although partnership and trust income remains significant.
The averages for different types of net capital income by gender and level of taxable income are given in Table 11 overleaf.  For low levels of taxable income (less than $15,001 for women and $5,401 for men) and for levels of taxable income above $100,000, average net dividend and interest is the largest component, followed by average partnership and trust income.  For income levels of $15,001 to $100,000 for women and $5401 to $100,000 for men, partnership and trust income is the largest average component of capital income.  Business incomes are also relatively important for men in the highest taxable income group.  Average rental incomes for men are negative in taxable income groups above $15,000.  For women average rental incomes are positive for all positive taxable income groups.

Table 12 overleaf provides gross interest and dividend amounts by gender for different age groups.  Over 60 per cent of tax filers receive some such income.  Net interest and dividend amounts are not available from the ATO file as a single investment deduction is allowed for expenses incurred in earning both income types.  Averages for net interest and dividends after deductions in Tables 12 and 13 are higher than shown in Tables 10 and 11 because only people earning interest and dividends are included in Tables 12 and 13.  For Tables 10 and 11 the averages are taken for all tax filers earning any type of capital income.
Unlike some other types of income, women earn higher levels of total net dividend and interest income than do men.  Men as a group claim higher deductions, but this does not account for the whole difference.  Men aged between 18 and 54 earn more than women in the same age group although the differences (less than $60 per annum) are small.  Women aged under 18 and 55 and over earn on average more than men from the same age groups for this type of income, with the differences being larger.  For those in the 75 and over age group for example, the average difference is around $736 while for the 65 to 74 age group the difference is over $1,300.  For gross interest and dividend income, the picture is a little different.  Men earn more than women in total from gross dividends (although not on average for those aged 65 and over), while women earn more than men from interest in total and on average for all groups except those aged 18 to 24.

Table 13 above looks at interest and dividend income by gender for taxable income groups.  Predictably the highest average interest and dividend incomes occur for taxable incomes of over $100,001 followed by the $75,001 to $100,000 and $50,001 to $75,000 taxable income groups for both men and women.  There is also a smaller peak for the $10,001 to $15,000 taxable income group for both men and women, perhaps reflecting retiree incomes.

Table 14 above provides details of income from rental property by gender and age groups.  Approximately 11 per cent of tax filers own or are purchasing rental property, but only about 5 per cent of all tax filers net taxable income from their investment.  Rental incomes are thus an interesting component of capital incomes as it would appear that more people ‘lose’ from rental property than earn investment income from this source.
This is particularly the case for younger age groups (men below age 55 and women below age 45) reflecting the high level of negative gearing of rental property in these age groups.  Women’s aggregate profit from rents outweighs aggregate losses, but for men losses outweigh aggregate profits.  Overall, tax filers have net taxable income losses in excess of $448 million from rental property.  By contrast, both sexes in older age groups earn positive incomes from rental property.  Older age groups would presumably have largely paid off any loans required for the original property purchase.
Table 15 below provides details of income from rental property by gender and taxable income groups.  For both men and women those earning negative taxable incomes make total income losses from their rental property.  For women, in no other taxable income group do overall losses outweigh aggregate positive rental incomes.  For men, however, for all income groups above $15,000 aggregate taxable income losses outweigh rental property taxable income gains.  For those making taxable income gains, rental property income broadly rises with positive taxable incomes, although there is a slight dip for both men and women in the $25,001 to $30,000 taxable income group.  Taxable income losses for both men and women with negative taxable incomes are larger than for all other income groups except for those earning over $75,001.

Conclusions
As is clear from this paper, individuals provide for their retirement using both superannuation and other financial assets.  However, men are making more financial provision for their retirement than women in most age groups.  Per capita saving for retirement peaks in the 45 to 54 age group.  Nonetheless people in the 35 to 44 and 55 to 64 groups are also making substantial provision.

Men are more able to provide for their retirement as women’s taxable incomes are on average considerably less than men’s.  For example, approximately 22 per cent of women have taxable incomes above $30,000 while for men the comparable figure is around 42 per cent.  The proportion of women with taxable incomes above $50,000 is less than 4 per cent while for men the proportion is just under 13 per cent.

Not surprisingly, by far the largest group of individuals with superannuation contributions are employees receiving contributions made by their employers.  Approximately 64 per cent of all tax filers benefit from such contributions.  The number making member contributions is about half of the number receiving employer contributions.  

Very few tax filers (less than 4 per cent) are in receipt of non government superannuation pensions and annuities.  Less than 11 per cent of the total population aged over 65 receive a non government superannuation pension.  Given the large numbers of people receiving employer superannuation contributions, this percentage may increase over time as the superannuation system matures.

The amounts of pension and annuity income received by women are smaller on average than those received by men in most age and income groups.  Untaxed source pensions and annuities are likely to be smaller than taxable source pensions and annuities, although the former are received by more individuals.  Superannuation contributions are also generally lower for women than for men of equivalent age groups and taxable income levels.  For men, employer contributions are always larger on average than their member contributions. 

The lower superannuation pensions and annuities and lower superannuation contributions made by women on average are significant in terms of women’s longer time spent in retirement, but reflect lower levels of income over their generally fewer years of employment.  Many women will benefit from their husband’s retirement savings.

ETPs are also of interest in the context of retirement incomes.  Considerable numbers of ETPs are received by individuals aged less than 60, the total value of such ETPs in 1995‑96 was $4.16 billion.  To the extent that ETPs represent leakages from the superannuation system before retirement, this would be a problem.  The proposals to tighten preservation rules should assist in this context.

The small average value of ETPs and the small number of people receiving non government superannuation pensions suggest that policies aimed at increasing private provision for retirement are desirable.

Apart from the under 18s and 60 to 64 year age groups, women’s capital incomes are on average less than men’s.  This is important because women tend to have longer years of retirement than men, and are more likely to be reliant on the age pension than men.  However, many women benefit from their husband’s retirement savings.  Average capital incomes increase with age.  Of the larger sources of capital income, average gross dividend incomes, business incomes (other than partnership or trust income), and non government superannuation pensions are lower for women than men.  Average gross interest income and net rental incomes are generally higher for women than men.  
Approximately 11 per cent of tax filers have an interest in rental property but only 5 per cent are receiving positive taxable income from their investment.  As a group tax filers generate tax losses of approximately $450 million on rental property.  Both men and women in younger age groups are likely to report tax losses on rental property investments, as do men in higher taxable income groups.  Data is not available which links the long term capital gain on such investments to prior year taxable income losses.

The Future

Further research could usefully be done to determine stocks of various assets based on sources of capital income.  This cannot be done from the ATO file which provides sources of capital income but not stocks of assets that were used to generate that income.  RIM is, however, working on asset imputation and further developing an individual tax payer micro simulation model.  Work could also be done to reweight and uprate the ATO file so that it can be used to model policies in forward estimates periods.  The ATO file could also help improve the income distributions obtained using the STINMOD model developed by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM).  

REFERENCES

Gallagher, P., 1995, ‘The Policy Use of the Products of the Retirement Income Modelling Task Force’, Paper to the Third Annual Colloquium of Superannuation Researchers, University of Melbourne.

Rothman, G., 1997, ‘Aggregate Analyses of Policies for Accessing Superannuation Accumulations’, Paper to the Fifth Annual Colloquium of Superannuation Researchers, University of Melbourne.