End the unfair tax rule pushing up housing costs
Everyone should chip in fairly to our public services. But in 1999 the Howard Government skewed the tax rules - to reduce the amount people buying and selling properties contribute through tax.
The Capital Gains Tax Discount is an outrageous rule that subsidises the already wealthy, strips billions from the budget, and contributes to the housing crisis. It's part of a collection of tax rules that incentivise people treating housing as a way to make money, rather than as a place to live. Combined with negative gearing, these policies mean that if you have money, it makes the most financial sense to use it buying more and more houses. And that means more investors outbidding aspiring first home owners.
This distorting rule also perpetuates gender inequality. For each $1 of benefit that women get from this government policy; men get $1.54.
It doesn't have to be this way. Media reports the Government is actively considering this reform in shaping the May budget. Will you add your name and show the Albanese Government they have the public's support to end this rigged system.
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The 'Capital Gains Tax discount' means that people that make money through buying and selling property avoid paying any tax on 50% of the profit they make. If someone made $100,000 over two years by flipping burgers - they'd pay tax on all of it. But if someone made $100,000 in two years by flipping a house -- they'd only contribute tax on $50,000 of it.
The 50% CGT discount is estimated to take $24 billion from the budget each year. [Source]
Government data shows that men had 58% of the benefit of this policy - contributing $23,890 less to our tax base; whereas women only had 42% benefit; and their average benefit was $18,750. Data also shows 82% of the benefits of this tax rule were received by people earning the top 10% of income. [Source]
According to Oxfam Australia, in 2022-23 50% of the public revenue lost to the capital gains tax discount went to just 24,000 people - who all earned over $1 million that year. On average, each of them gained about $271,000 from the rule. [Source]