Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison have confirmed that tax offsets through negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount won’t be changed in the May 3 budget.
“A tax on mum and dad investors is not a good plan for families,” Morrison says. “It’s not a plan for jobs. And that’s why we will have no bar of it.”
The confirmation did not come as a surprise, given the Federal Government’s criticism of Labor’s plans to limit negative gearing to new properties. Labor has announced it will halve the capital gains tax discount from 50% to 25%, should it win the likely Federal Election.
The Prime Minister says the Opposition’s tax plan would deliver a “reckless trifecta” of lower home values, higher rents and less investment.
Morrison, who will hand down a tax reform package with his first Budget, says Labor’s proposal is nothing more than a housing tax.
