Labor is coming under pressure, ahead of an “economic round-table”, from August 19-21, to agree to wind-back negative gearing and capital gains tax (CGT) exemptions after the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) added their support to help tackle the housing affordability crisis.

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The ACTU on August 3 said the tax benefits to landlords mean people are being locked out of owning their own homes and “rents are skyrocketing in cities and regions”. It said negative gearing and CGT exemptions should be limited to a single property.

ACOSS said on August 7 that tax exemptions are “fueling” the housing crisis and said negative gearing should be completely scrapped over the next five years. Its submission to the economic roundtable calls for CGT exemptions to be halved over that period.

The Australia Institute last year found that the richest 10% receive more than half of the benefits from the capital gains discount and tax rental deductions. The richest received nearly $13 billion this way in 2020–2021, more........

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