Albanese government mum on capital gains reform as budget looms
The Albanian government is remaining silent on possible changes to the controversial capital gains tax in the May budget, despite Finance Minister Jim Chalmers admitting he would be “happy” if it were noted for tax reform.
Mr Chalmers told Nine newspaper on Sunday morning that he would be “quite happy” if the headline of the 2026-27 budget was “tax reform budget”.
The Albanian government is widely understood to be considering potentially reducing some of its lucrative concessions to Australia’s capital gains tax.
Capital gains tax is a tax on profits made after the sale of items, such as shares or property, and is part of a person’s annual income tax. A 50 percent discount is applied if a person holds the asset for more than a year.
The tax changes are also being investigated in a Liberal-led Senate inquiry.
Deputy Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite told Sky News on Sunday that “at the moment the tax policies have not changed” when asked how the government could justify such changes without leading to an election.
“We are actually in the process of implementing some of the tax reforms that we implemented at the last election, such as the income tax cut and changes to senior pensions,” he said.
Mr Thistlethwaite said the focus of the budget would be “stabilising inflation and improving productivity”.
“We constantly review our policies to ensure they achieve the objectives for which we were elected, and the focus now should be on stabilizing inflation,” he said.
“We know that the fuel crisis currently ongoing is a big problem.
“But other than that, reducing inflation has been our priority. Therefore, we need to review policies to make sure we achieve this goal.”
The government is also reportedly considering changes to negative gearing; This will also be grandfathered, so this will only affect future arrangements.
As for housing, Mr Thistlethwaite said the government was focused on increasing housing supply, including through immigration policies.
He said the government was aware there was “an issue with intergenerational inequality, particularly when it comes to housing”.
Also speaking to Sky News, Liberal Senator Dave Sharma warned a Senate committee had been told changes to capital gains tax would “do nothing to improve affordability”.
“This will reduce supply at the margins because it will discourage investment in new housing stock…people will likely invest in other asset classes,” he said.
“I mean, basically, it’s kind of an end-to-end fix when the biggest problem is that the government can’t build housing fast enough to meet its own housing targets.”
