Housing and inequality campaigners are urging Treasurer Jim Chalmers to go big in next month’s budget and abolish the full capital gains tax (CGT) discount and negative gearing, arguing partial changes will do little to ease the deepening crisis.
Australia’s rental market is now “less affordable than ever”, with new analysis showing there are virtually no homes available to people on low wages or income support. Advocates say the crisis reflects years of flawed policy, with Anglicare Australia calling on the Albanese government to axe tax breaks for investors and spend more on building public and community housing.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out applying a gas export tax to existing contracts despite overwhelming public support, as pressure for a fairer return from Australia’s gas exports continues to build ahead of the budget.
The inflation figures released today confirm what we already know: inflation is being driven by higher fuel costs. This points to a supply shock rather than demand-driven inflation, meaning increasing interest rates will just heap more pointless pain on Australian households.
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One of the biggest myths perpetrated by conservatives is that Australia is a high-taxing nation, and that Australian workers are taxed more than other nations. The 2026 OECD Taxing Wages Report reveals that this is simply not true. Rather, the problem is that the government raises too little in other taxes.
Changes to land taxes in Victoria pushed landlords out of the market — but didn’t reduce housing supply or drive up rents, showing that scrapping the CGT discount could improve affordability nationwide.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit Australia next week as reports emerge that Anthony Albanese has abandoned plans for a gas export tax as to avoid upsetting key trading partners. The visit comes two weeks after a Senate inquiry examined how Australia taxes gas exports. The Greens argue that the idea that a tax would threaten Australia’s trading relationships was “fundamentally rejected” by the inquiry.
