Anthony Albanese has watered down speculation the federal government will move to change negative gearing at the next election despite reports Treasury is modelling a potential overhaul of the generous tax concessions for property investors.The prime minister did a string of interviews this morning to say Labor has "no plans" to change negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount."Our plans are out there about supply," he told Today.
Anthony Albanese has watered down speculation the federal government will move to change negative gearing at the next election. (Alex Ellinghausen)"My concern with the proposals that have been put forward from time to time about negative gearing is that they won't have a positive impact on supply."We need more homes… we want more people in public housing. We want more private rentals, and we want more people in home ownership."The comments come a day after the Sydney Morning Herald reported the federal Treasury was looking into the cost of winding back negative gearing and the capital gains discount.Labor is facing pressure from the Greens to axe the concessions, with the minor party refusing to support the government's help to buy housing legislation until they are gone.The Greens and other critics of the policy say it makes it easier for someone to purchase their second or third home at the expense of prospective first-home buyers, and claim it has contributed to the housing crisis.
Critics of negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions say they have contributed to the housing crisis. (Dion Georgopoulos)"It is good to see negotiations may have finally begun to scrap the tax handouts denying renters the chance to buy a home," Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather said yesterday."We have two months to get a deal done. Let's do this."But the Coalition is opposed to any changes, and Albanese today said the Treasury modelling hasn't been requested by the government."I didn't (ask officials for costings)," he said."The public service don't have to be told, I'm not their school teacher… what I want is a public service that's dynamic, a public service that does its job in the best traditions of the public service."While Albanese's denial was far firmer language than yesterday, when he didn't rule out changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, it was similar to the messaging used by senior ministers before the government altered the stage 3 tax cuts earlier this year.Before that change, Resources Minister Madeleine King said the government had "no plans" to change the tax cuts.When asked about the similarity of the wording on Today, Albanese said the tax cuts decision was "courageous"."See if you can find someone who says that what we did on income tax was the wrong thing," he said."I know there was some controversy when we did it, but it was the right thing, done for the right reasons."
