Tax reform is not enough – to help the young, wages need to buy more

May 11, 2026 — 5:00am

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Proposed changes to CGT, negative gearing and trust taxation in the federal budget will make the tax system fairer, but let’s also be honest: the door to home ownership has already slammed shut on a whole generation of young people. If the government is serious about re-opening it, it knows the path it must tread.

At the crux of intergenerational inequality is a decoupling of work incomes from wealth generation. Asset prices, capital returns and inherited wealth have grown significantly faster than wages for over a decade. Arithmetically, young people are on the front line of that. Half the workforce is under 40 and most rely on work incomes to build a life. They’re scrambling to keep pace, with multiple job-holding near record-highs.

I think a lot about Adelaide’s northern outskirts. Deindustrialisation and unemployment hit them harder than the adjacent west I grew up in. Solid brick houses on 700sqm were less than $300,000 forever, until 2021 when prices rose, more than doubling in just five years. Fifty per cent of all property purchases in Paralowie last year were by investors. Accessible working-class suburbs are now cash........

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