I couldn’t agree more and in fact that’s the philosophical underpinning of Labor’s tax reforms and reining in tax concessions that overwhelmingly benefit wealthier Australians while helping pay for our priorities such as schools and hospitals and protecting our pensioners and low-income Australians.

The fact of the matter is that with over half a trillion dollars in Commonwealth gross debt, the nation can no longer afford tax concessions like giving out cash refunds for excess imputation credits – a practice begun by Peter Costello in 2001.

Australia’s original dividend imputation system introduced in 1987 did not allow for cash refunds and no developed system currently includes refundability.

Left unchecked, the current system of cash refunds would see future governments faced with an $8 billion annual hole in the budget over the next decade – that is equivalent to more than Commonwealth spending on public schools!

Labor will close this tax concession while also protecting pensioners who will be able to continue to access these cash refunds. We think that is fair.

Labor understands that times are tough for many pensioners and seniors under this conservative government. Under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government, health care costs are rising, energy prices are rising and wait-lists for home care packages have blown out significantly. In every budget since 2013, the Liberal Party has come up with new cuts that attack pensioners and their cost of living, including cuts to pension indexation, abolishing the $900 seniors supplement, changing the pension assets test, and cuts to the pensioners energy supplement.

I know it’s a difficult decision and will affect some self-funded retirees but Labor is being upfront and honest before an election on what tough decisions are necessary, not saying one thing before an election only to deliver bad news after.

Labor's proposed removal of refundable franking credits is discriminatory in the way it treats different classes of retirees.

G. Kolomeitz is correct in characterizing the potential outcome for retired, self-funded mums and dads as immoral. They will be punished for their retirement investment decisions made "in good faith under the law as it currently is".

In the absence of grandfathering arrangements (like those likely to apply to negatively geared property) many retirement plans will be ruined.

In stark contrast, those Australians whose superannuation benefits are secured by the Future Fund, including commonwealth public servants and politicians, don't have to worry because the Future Fund has been exempted from Labor's plan presumably because trying to replace over $800 million in lost franking credit refunds would be a little too risky.

There is no doubt that current policy around superannuation and retirement income is complex and needs comprehensive review rather than the seemingly ad hoc changes that occur now.

During the Wentworth by-election Keryn Phelps suggested that Labor's plan should be blocked until proper economic assessment and consultation was completed. She proposed a five-year moratorium on superannuation changes to restore confidence in the system and allow the government to address the gender imbalance in retirement savings. This makes great sense and would go a long way to reducing the stress levels of self-funded retirees who are currently feeling vulnerable, confused, cheated and demeaned by Labor's proposal.