The party calls for reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts to support first home buyers and tenants while protecting “mom and dad” investors.
Greens calls for cleaning reforms for negative gearing and capital gains tax (CGT) discounts as a top priority in minority government consultations.
They argue that tax changes will bring relief to tenants, bring open doors for first home buyers, and ease the global tariff hit public.
Negative gearing allows investors to claim losses from rental properties as tax credits, often relying on valuation of property values to offset short-term losses. CGT Discount holds taxes on profits from asset sales for more than a year.
Greens leader Adam Band, an independent analysis shows that the proposed reforms will help more than 850,000 people move to home ownership.
The party also cited data showing that if a national rent freeze was adopted in August 2022, renters paid an average of $6,318 in the month they first called. This amounts to $13 billion in savings for renters nationwide.
Additionally, a poll conducted last year claims that half of voters support the negative gearing cap, while 70% support wider price control, including rent caps.
Major policy changes
Greens maintains one negative gearing and a 50% CGT discount on existing investment properties to protect “mom and dad” investors.
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However, properties purchased after the start of the policy, as well as second or subsequent investment properties already owned, are not subject to these concessions.
Additionally, a 50% CGT discount is discarded for all other assets, and non-residential assets are indexed by inflation. These changes apply to investment properties only.
“Australia has options. They either give their children and grandchildren the same chances as their previous generations, or continue to offer billions of dollars tax increases on multiple properties. That’s not both.”
However, Ben Phillip, an associate professor at the Australian National University’s Center for Social Studies, said removing negative gearing may not have a meaningful impact on housing affordability.
“Negative gearing is a legitimate tax credit, similar to any other investment that has lost money,” he told the Epoch Times.
He said, “Some investors value negative gearing more than it really is worth it, so the impact may be greater than economists think.”
Other countries, including Germany, Japan, Canada and Norway, also have various restrictions, but also allow negative forms of gearing, according to a report from Australia’s housing investment.
Major political parties refuse to change
Negative gearing dominated the debate towards the end of 2024 when the Treasury reviewed its policy.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later confirmed that labor would not make any changes and instead focus housing policies on other regions.
“What we’re doing is planning a policy for Australian homes. That’s the policy we have, and that’s what my government is focusing on,” he told ABC News in September 2024.
He said that increasing housing supply remains a key focus for workers.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton also ruled out changes to negative gearing.
“We are strongly opposed to changes in negative gearing to disrupt the housing market,” he said.
“It leads to higher rents and isn’t the country’s greatest profit.”
This marks the Greens’ fourth minority government’s priorities and expands free early childhood education and care, in accordance with suggestions that include dentistry in Medicare, including homeland deforestation.
