2016-11-18
Greens Treasury spokesperson for Treasury, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, says that unless Malcolm Turnbull radically changes Australia’s economic settings those who are currently the economic winners will continue to prosper at the expense of those who are being left behind.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Turnbull’s economic plan of corporate and top-end income tax cuts and slashing social welfare payments is a Reagan-era prescription that will only worsen the modern economic ailments of our time.
“If Turnbull really wants to address the major structural inequities in Australia he needs to move beyond trickle-down or supply-side economics and look at the problems such as housing affordability.
“There has been a widening divide in Australia between those who owned property before 2000 [when a capital gains tax discount was introduced] and those who haven’t been able to enter the housing market since.
“The tax system is feeding the housing price surge, creating a zero sum gain where those with property are gaining wealth at the expense of those without.
“Every time property prices rise at a greater rate than wages it devalues the relative worth of a wage of someone who does not yet own a home. Winners are created at the expense of those who miss out.
“The hope of Australia being a country where you can get ahead through hard work and ingenuity is fading. The only people getting ahead in Australia now are those who have property and know how to play the tax loopholes to their advantage.
“A key hope of fixing the worsening inequality situation in Australia will come through removing the capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing,” he concluded.
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Media contact: Tim Beshara 0409164603
Media ReleaseTreasury