With less than three months to go until the federal budget, you are going to be hearing a lot more about tax. It seems that something is finally going to be done to fix the capital gains tax, but already conservatives are working to give the richest another tax cut.

This week a Senate committee into the 50% CGT discount has held inquiries. My colleague Matt Grudnoff and I made a submission to the committee and Matt provided evidence on Tuesday. Regular readers, however, will not be in any doubt of my position. I have written long and loudly on the topic.

Not only has the 50% CGT discount distorted the housing market and coincided with the biggest decline in housing affordability in our history, but it massively favours the richest.

Those earning more than $250,000 a year make up just 2.5% of all individuals, but they account for two-thirds of all the capital gains:

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Little surprise then that the Parliamentary Budget Office has found that 59% of the benefit of the CGT discount goes to the richest 1% (or those earning more than $362,900):

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While the general tone of the evidence before the committee has been in favour of removing or at least........

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