The Coalition has vowed to repeal Labor's proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax if it wins power, setting up a major election battle over key tax reform measures from the budget. Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson and opposition leader Angus Taylor said a future Coalition government would reinstate more generous rules for property investors and for Australians minimising tax through trusts.
Taylor said the Coalition would only support a new $250 tax offset for workers and new hospital funding announced in the budget. 'Absolutely, our position is we're going to do everything we can to stop these bad taxes, toxic taxes, from getting through the parliament,' he told Sky News on Wednesday.
The Coalition's repeal plan would leave the budget about $70bn worse off, requiring additional savings or revenue measures to fix the shortfall. Treasurer Jim Chalmers used Tuesday's budget to break Labor's election promises on tax reform, announcing an end to negative gearing for new investment properties and scaling back the 50% capital gains tax discount. Investment properties bought after Tuesday night will no longer be able to be negatively geared, while the CGT discount will be replaced by July 1, 2027.
Wilson said the Coalition would seek to defeat the changes for property investors, adding: 'We'll repeal these measures if necessary. But when it comes down to the measures of broken trust built on bad faith that this government is putting forward, which is going to kneecap young Australians, then let's be very clear about just how bad it is.'
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said her party would drive a hard bargain with Labor before committing to pass the measures, demanding more detail. She called the changes 'tinkering around the edges' and said the $250 tax offset should be extended to low-income earners and welfare recipients, a move Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ruled out.
