Sophie Scamps urges capital gains tax reform: tax breaks are 'tilting the playing field'

On the back of polling showing strong support for tax concession reductions for property investors, independent member for Mackellar, Dr Sophie Scamps has voiced her support for the government to make changes in the upcoming federal budget to make housing fairer.

Polling released today by The Australia Institute across the independently held seats of Kooyong, Mackellar, and Wentworth, revealed very strong support for reducing tax concessions like the 50% capital gains tax (CGT) discount and negative gearing.

A majority of voters in all three federal seats supported policies that would reduce tax concessions for property investors, with more than a third of voters in each seat expressing “strong support”.

Today, Dr Scamps announced “it’s time for housing reform, and Mackellar is ready.” She referred to the polling, noting “in a clear majority, 61.5% of locals agree or strongly agree that the Federal Government should reduce tax concessions for property investors, including the 50% capital gains tax discount”.

Dr Scamps referred to the rumours of policy changes being mooted in the coming federal Budget, saying “there’s been loud whispers that the Government is looking to reform current housing tax settings to boost intergenerational equity. This polling shows that the people of Mackellar overwhelmingly back such reforms”.

She continued, arguing that “for too long, tax concessions have tilted the playing field toward property investors, and away from first home buyers, driving up prices without delivering the homes we need. These polling results show that our community understands this – we can see the system isn’t working.”

Such a view suggests that Dr Scamps knows voters in her seat understand that the past 25 years of policies (including the CGT 50% discount, HomeBuilder, and the recent 5% deposit guarantee) have only served to make housing ever more unaffordable:

 

Dr Scamps called on the government to act, noting that “this year’s Federal Budget is a real opportunity to deliver meaningful housing reform. I’m urging the Government to not waste it.”

It might surprise some that reforms to the CGT 50% discount and negative gearing are so strongly supported in high-income electorates given those electorates also have the highest shares of people who either negatively gear properties or benefits from the CGT 50% discount.

Such support however is not surprising given the results of the 2019 election. It has become very easy to suggest the ALP lost that “unlosable” election because of the ALP’s policies to reduce the CGT discount to 25% and limit negative gearing to one brand-new residential housing only.

However, in the high-income seats of North Sydney, Goldstein, Kooyong, Curtin, and Mackellar, the ALP actually won significant swings:

These swings helped set up the 2022 election where all of these seats were won by Independents.

As Dr Scamps noted today “this is about more than housing; it’s about the kind of community we want to be. One where the next generation can stay connected to family, work locally, and build a life here. It’s also about giving hope to the next generation”.

The polling and the calls from MPs like Dr Scamps will further pressure the government to deliver true reform in the May budget to end the unfair current situation that has led to a generation of Australians being locked out of the housing market.