Anthony Albanese defends negative gearing, capital gains and trust tax changes at Victorian Labor conference
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has fiercely defended his government’s tax policies and, after days of criticism, doubled down on his defense by declaring the reforms were necessary to deliver “what everyone wants”.
Speaking at Victoria Labor’s annual conference on Saturday, during a soft launch of the party’s state election campaign, the premier toughened his stance on the need for controversial changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax and trusts announced in this month’s federal budget.
This imprint reports that Albanese is open to tweaking how it will affect testamentary trusts, which the Coalition has attacked as a “death tax”.
But on Saturday he signaled Labor would generally push ahead with the tax package, brushing off the wider backlash by saying trusts were not a “gutsy” option for most Australians.
“These Australians, millions of hard-working people, will never have access to a foundation. Have we ever sat around a kitchen table and thought about setting up a foundation? I mean, we haven’t seriously considered it,” Albanese said.
“The biggest investment the majority of Australians have ever made and the best hope they have is to work hard and buy a home of their own.”
Going off script at times, the prime minister repeated that Labor was the “party of targets”. He became visibly emotional as he described how young people go to auctions and compete with bidders who can afford to spend an extra $30,000 on a property because of the cuts they can claim on their tax bills.
“We will not allow Australia to become a country that only some desire,” the Prime Minister said.
“Our reforms are about supporting everyone’s aspirations, making Australia’s big dream of homeownership accessible again for a new generation. Our changes are aspiration-side and supply-side, so we can help people own their own home.”
“If people want to invest in property, have negative gearing and build their wealth, that’s a good thing for them. But there will be a difference from now on. They will also invest in new housing supply.”
Angus Taylor, the Liberal Party’s leader of the federal opposition in the county council town of Caulfield, used his speech to attack Albanese’s character, given that the prime minister had repeatedly ignored sweeping tax changes ahead of last year’s federal election.
“I think Australians are finally seeing Anthony Albanese for what he really is, a man who occupies the highest office but does not have the character or competence to lead the country,” Taylor said.
“He is incompetent, he is a liar.”
Taylor said the federal budget is a war on wills and will “crunch the ‘reward for hard work’ spirit that underpins our nation’s success.”
Federal Labor figures have softened their language in recent days about how the new inflation model for taxing capital gains could negatively impact businesses starting from a very low cost base.
Assistant Minister for the Digital Economy Andrew Charlton said on Friday that start-up founders and small business owners had expressed “genuine concerns” and that the government had consulted them.
But Chancellor of the Exchequer Jim Chalmers said the online meme campaign claiming the government’s tax plan would give them a 47 per cent stake in start-ups (referring to the top marginal tax rate) was “essentially nonsense”. “We are making a very logical, very common sense change,” he said.
The Albanian government’s post-budget sales mission has also been complicated by: Criticism from NSW Premier Chris MinnsHe attacked his federal Labor colleagues for not giving back bigger tax cuts to workers. Taylor has promised to do this by indexing income tax thresholds.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on Saturday did not say whether she supported the idea of lowering the top marginal tax rate and removing the minimum threshold. But he supported the principles behind Albanese’s speech.
“The prime minister and the federal treasurer are more than capable of speaking for themselves on their own budgets, but this is a budget about understanding that systems need to change for the future,” Allan said.
“You can see that Federal Labor is working incredibly hard to make sure the environments are in place to continue to support workers and families. [and] help young people get into a home.”
At Victoria Labor’s state conference, Allan announced his government would ask the State Electricity Commission (SEC) to establish an apprenticeship academy for 2000 electricians over four years.
Flanking him at the press conference were apprentice electricians wearing khaki SEC shirts, a reference to the uniforms SEC workers wore before they were privatized by former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett.
Allan’s announcement was made in front of his father, Peter Allan, who introduced him to the podium and told his story of working as a lineman in the original SEC.
“He learned through work that a good job means a good wage and that means a future for everyone,” Peter Allan said on Saturday.
“He always sided with the working class, even in his childhood he was in trouble because he sided with classmates who were discriminated against.
“If he thought something was unfair, he would stand up in class and tell the teacher what he thought.”
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