Among the most controversial measures in Tuesday’s budget were the changes to negative gearing, family trusts and capital gains tax.

They were a response to growing inequality between generations, where first-home buyers are being outbid by older, wealthier property investors who can claim tax deductions not available to the young.

Predictably, conservative media outlets screamed from the rooftops that the changes amounted to a government tax grab.

So did shadow treasurer Tim Wilson, quickly followed by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor.

The Coalition’s position that it would vote against these reforms is not surprising. But shocking me right out of my brain was its commitment to repeal the measures if the Coalition were to form government after the next election.

Aspiring first-home buyers now know for sure who’s on their side and who wants them to remain renters for the rest of their lives.

The Liberal Party’s philosophy on tax hasn’t changed in decades.

I’ve been around long enough to remember the Taxation Review Committee commissioned by the Whitlam government and chaired by Professor Russell Mathews, who concluded that income tax had so many legally sanctioned shelters that it had become “a voluntary tax for the wealthy”.

That conclusion, coupled with Treasury advice, led to the Keating tax reforms of September 1985.

Paul Keating’s reform package included the introduction of a capital........

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