Negative gearing is back in the news. But reports that Treasury is modelling changes shouldn’t be a surprise, or something the government feels it needs to hide. The government and the bureaucracy should always be looking at economic reform opportunities, including how to improve our tax system.

Australia’s negative gearing rules (which allow people who borrow to invest in housing and use their losses to reduce tax on wages and salaries) are neither natural nor sacred. They go beyond the broadly accepted principle of offsetting investment losses against investment gains.

Just 18 per cent of........

© The Sydney Morning Herald