More Than 40 Young Tech Leaders Push Back on Labor’s Capital Gains Tax Overhaul

More than forty Australian tech business leaders under the age of 40 have urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to carve out shares and business equity from his government’s capital gains tax overhaul.

The letter has 45 signatories including Linktree co-founder and CEO Alex Zaccaria, hospitality ordering platform me&u’s Kim Teo, and medical testing company Everlab’s co-founders Georgia Vidler and Marc Hermann.

“We, the undersigned, are the people the budget says it wants to back.  We are young Australians under the age of 40 who are doing our best to build a successful Australian business,” the letter states.

“We work the hours. We carry the risk. We do it because we believe in the business we are building and because we have been told repeatedly that this spirit of having a crack is exactly what the country needs.”

The letter says the entrepreneurs feel “ambushed” by the federal government’s changes.

“Rather than back us, you have ambushed us with a massive tax increase. A tax that will hit us, the Australians we hire, and the investors who believe in us, the hardest,” the letter said.

Capital gains tax is calculated based on the profit a person receives after selling an asset like investment properties, crypto, and shares—the latter having a big impact on small business owners.

Previously, a 50 percent discount was applied to the profit with CGT calculated on the remaining 50 percent.

However, from July 1, 2027 the discount will be removed and instead, be replaced with a flat 30 percent minimum tax on all net capital gains plus indexation—meaning a bigger tax liability.

“By removing the CGT discount on shares, and replacing it with a cost base indexation scheme, you have clocked us with a massive tax hit and then come up with a replacement that will make things even worse,” the letter said.

The signatories did back CGT changes for housing.

“But the changes to the CGT discount on shares will do nothing to make houses more affordable. All they will achieve is to suck the ambition, drive and hope out of the hearts of young business builders nationwide.”

Government Stands by Budget, Says Exemptions Exist

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has spent the past weeks defending his budget as it faces a strong response from the business community with an AI-driven online protest underway.

Chalmers said Labor was offering “$3.5 billion in tax breaks for business, especially small business, whether it be the treatment of losses, whether it be the investment incentives for venture capital and start‑ups, whether it be research and development incentives as well.”

Albanese also said the government was making no changes to small business CGT exemptions.

He also said some concerns were fomented by “right wing parties and their allies.”

The Coalition’s Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson has moved to support the start-up community at a National Press Club address on May 20.

“The innovators, disruptors, risk takers and builders of this country have worked this prime minister out: he’s the guy in that group assignment that does none of the work, but still takes the grade,” he said.