Jessica Irvine, in this morning's SMH:
"THE centrepiece of the Rudd Government's plan to increase national savings and make housing more affordable - its first-home saver account - is unfair, too complex and may not be available on time, according to a flood of submissions to a Treasury inquiry into the plan.
They say it is highly regressive, gives rich savers double the benefit of poor savers, makes no provision for a direct withdrawal of funds if someone's circumstances chang, its eligibility age of 18 is too high, and it may be too complex and costly for superannuation funds to set up by the proposed start date of July 1.
The Government has refused requests by the Herald to see the submissions, understood to number about 120, even though the deadline passed six weeks ago. The Treasury website said they would be treated as public documents unless otherwise requested.
But a number of submissions obtained by the Herald reveal a long list of criticisms from consumer groups, super funds and other financial bodies"...
Read the full thing:
