Chalmers Sets Federal Budget Australia Course on Housing Tax Changes
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the federal budget australia he will deliver tonight will address pressure in the housing market and tax system, with changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax. He said the budget is meant to respond to concerns pushing some Australians toward parties outside the mainstream.
Chalmers said, “I think the housing market and the tax system is not working for a lot of Australians, and tonight we seek to address that.” He added, “I don’t dismiss or deny the very real concerns that a lot of Australians have about their ability to get a toehold in the housing market or to get a toehold in the economy more broadly.”
Chalmers on Tuesday morning
The treasurer said the budget will contain “bold reform” and that the planned changes are intended to level the playing field between ordinary people and wealthier classes and investors. He also said, “It will respond to a lot of the pressures and anxieties that people are feeling, which is driving them to consider some of the parties outside the mainstream.”
Chalmers also said, “The Australian Labor party is the last one standing in the sensible centre of Australian politics but we’re not standing still.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a surge to rightwing populists such as One Nation is “what happens when people don’t think they have a shot at a fair go.”
Negative gearing and capital gains tax
The budget changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax put housing policy and tax settings together in one package. For buyers trying to enter the market, the government is linking those settings to the pressure it says is shaping voter anger and party switching.
That leaves tonight’s speech as the point where the government has to show whether its promised reform is narrow or broad. Chalmers has already said the budget is “not a political document or a political strategy, it is an economic plan,” but he has also tied it directly to the pressures he says Australians are feeling.
Penny Wong sanctions
Separately on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced targeted financial penalties and travel bans on senior Iranian officials. Australia is sanctioning seven Iranians and four entities, including Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, and Ruhollah Nasab.
Nasab was sanctioned for his role in deploying 80,000 forces to ensure mandatory hijab-wearing by Iranian women and to surveil dress in schools, universities, public spaces and online. The sanctions also target Iran’s shadow banking system, while protests that erupted in January were followed by more than 30,000 people believed to have been killed by Iranian forces.
For Australians watching the budget, the immediate issue is whether Chalmers pairs the promise of fairness with changes that actually shift tax and housing settings. Tonight’s speech will show how far the government is prepared to go on both negative gearing and capital gains tax.
