Conservative newspapers are stoking fears CGT changes will hurt young Australians — despite very few being affected

One of the more hilarious aspects of the budget is that conservative newspapers have discovered that young people exist.  

Not all young people, mind. Not young people trying to cope on Jobseeker, or young people coping with a more precarious labour force than in the past, or young people with disabilities about to be kicked off the NDIS, not even young people wanting to buy a home. 

Nope, we are talking about young people who invest. That segment of society who have been “hit” by the changes to the capital gains tax discount.  

Finally, the conservative media cares about minorities!  

If you are trying hard to think of such a person, that’s because mostly, they don’t exist.  

The most recent taxation statistics reveal that just 0.6% of people aged 15-24 earn capital gains and 1.3% of those aged 24-29. By contrast, half of those in their teens and early 20s earn a salary or wage and 75% aged 25-29 do so: 

Investing is really not a thing for most people in their 20s. 

That’s why one commentator on Twitter had to invent an AI example to find one 

But hey there is a fear campaign to sell, which is why we have headlines like this in the AFR: 

“CGT changes to shares will hurt young Australians, warn experts” (the only “expert” in the story with a warning was “Betashares chief executive, Alex Vynokur”) 

Or in the Daily Telegraph: “Budget changes make life tougher for Gen Z, say experts” (again the experts were all vested interests in the finance industry, and the only number cited was a combination of “Gen Z and Gen Y”) 

So yes, that small group of young investors will now have to pay a minimum 30% tax on their capital gains, but the reason it is being down is because there is a group of young Australians that has become smaller over the past 40 years – homeowners: 

If you are in your early 30s and you own a home, then you are in the minority. 

That never used to be the case. 

And forcing the 1% of rich young people who invest to pay more tax in order to give more hope to all young people who wish to buy a home is the very definition of good policy.