Prime Minister Sidesteps Question About Future Taxes on Family Home

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has avoided taking a position on the possibility of taxing the family home in a post-budget clash with the opposition.

This comes after the Labor government announced major changes to capital gains tax (CGT) and negative gearing in the May 12 budget, prompting strong opposition from the Liberal-National Coalition and One Nation.

During Question Time in Parliament, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor asked Albanese: “Will the prime minister rule out changing his mind about taxing the family home?”

Albanese did not directly answer the question, instead turning his focus to criticising the opposition and promoting his party’s policies.

“I thank the member for his question about tax policy. The truth is that, if the Coalition had won the last election and the Leader of the Opposition had been the one delivering the budget on Tuesday night, we know that it would have contained a tax increase for every single Australian taxpayer—all 14 million of them,” he said.

“What I can say is that we are the party that went to an election with lower taxes—lower taxes for all 14 million Australians.

Taylor interjected with a point of order, arguing Albanese was dodging his question.

Still refusing to give a clear stance on the issue, Albanese said the opposition had “no credibility on tax, the cost of living, the budget or the economy.”

“I wasn’t actually asked about anything that’s in our budget—nothing at all. That’s the point. This is the Thursday after our budget,” he said.

“They asked about something that isn’t in our budget rather than anything that is.”

Budget Changes Drive the Debate

The debate took place after the centre-left Labor government overhauled negative gearing and capital gains tax (CGT). For now, the changes do not apply to the family home.

In addition, Labor will abolish the 50 percent CGT discount for assets held longer than 12 months and introduce a 30 per cent minimum tax rate on capital gains across a broad range of assets from July 1, 2027.

Negative gearing changes will also take effect from July 1, 2027, preventing new investors from offsetting losses on investment properties against other income such as salary, except for new builds.

Taylor vowed to scrap negative gearing and CGT on May 14.

“We’re going to fight, even if it gets through the parliament. If it gets through the parliament, and as I say, we’re going to do everything we can to stop it,” he said.