Does housing pain matter more than broken promises? PM and Chalmers are banking on it |
Does housing pain matter more than broken promises? PM and Chalmers are banking on it
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Jim Chalmers is on the brink of handing down the most ambitious budget of the five he’s put together as treasurer. But the degree of difficulty is also the highest he has ever faced.
At the heart of the budget will be a winding back of tax breaks for negative gearing and capital gains tax (CGT), as well as potential changes to the tax treatment of trusts. The number of NDIS participants will be cut, with savings targets of a mammoth $35 billion over four years, while there will also be a modest $300 tax offset for workers.
Budgets always have a theme and this year it is resilience and reform. But the real theme of this budget is tackling intergenerational inequality, a step that is long overdue in the view of many Australians.
Already, concerns are being raised by the opposition, News Corp and the property sector (among others) about the planned changes (before the details have been released) and the impact they will have on the property market and the supply of housing. Anthony Albanese, who promised numerous times during the last election campaign not to touch negative gearing or CGT, is being criticised – fairly – for breaking an election promise.
But some of the criticism about the shape and tenor of this budget also misses the point.
How Australians are eating our future, one home auction at a time
Shane WrightSenior economics correspondent
Senior economics correspondent
If Chalmers and Albanese follow through on all the measures foreshadowed – and actually get them through the parliament and into law – the 2026 budget could be remembered for........