Chalmers hits back at Taylor in impassioned defence of budget

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jim Chalmers mocked Opposition Leader Angus Taylor as he defended his government’s controversial tax changes on the grounds that “not everyone is born at the top of the ladder anyway”.

Chalmers made his strongest defense of the May budget on Thursday, criticizing the Liberal Party and One Nation for wanting no change to the “generational crisis” in the housing market.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers.Alex Ellinghausen

Speaking at Labour’s national policy forum in Sydney, the treasurer said the beneficiaries of negative gearing and planned changes to capital gains tax were being eclipsed by those benefiting from existing tax arrangements.

Chalmers said the Coalition and One Nation’s stance was absurd, claiming the government was moving up the “ladder of aspiration”.

“Not everyone is born at the top of the ladder like Angus Taylor, not everyone fails their way up the ladder like he did,” he said.

“And unlike One Nation, we vote the way workers need us, not the way Gina Rinehart tells us to. The irony of their position is that they want to change the government to leave things as they are; a truly ridiculous proposition.”

Chalmers then targeted those he accused of defending their own financial interests at the expense of young and future Australians.

“The story of this budget is often told not by the biggest victims of the broken status quo, but by those who benefit most from these current arrangements,” he said.

“Of course there are those who want everything to stay the same, we are not one of them.

“Our job is to make the right decisions for the right reasons, to represent voices in the game that are not currently amplified by the usual suspects, whether through a political or business guise.”

The May budget overhauled negative gearing and capital gains tax rules in what the government described as the biggest tax shake-up in a generation. But the Coalition criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for breaking election promises and described the budget as an attack on its aims.

This imprint revealed on Wednesday that innovative businesses can continue to use the 50 per cent capital gains tax break as Chalmers moves to address concerns that Labor’s budget will hurt high-growth firms and productivity.

While Labor expected property investors to resist the budget changes, they were surprised by the outcry fueled by young business people on social media about the CGT tax changes.

Many sources familiar with the government’s thinking said the 50 percent discount that the Howard era applied to companies that met start-up criteria could continue.

Cabinet ministers are working on how to legally define an innovative start-up. The criteria appear difficult to determine, but the government could apply the criteria currently used to identify businesses that are eligible for existing start-up schemes as well as businesses that offer employee share schemes.

The unbundling is expected to be accompanied by an extension of existing CGT exemptions for businesses with a turnover of up to $2 million (which Labor is likely to apply to firms with higher turnover) and an expected step back on testamentary discretionary trusts. Coalition weaponises ‘death tax’ fear offer.

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