Labor Pushes Negative Gearing, Family Trust and Capital Gains Tax Changes Through Lower House Amid Coalition Opposition and Greens Concerns

Labor will advance the first tranche of its budget legislation through the House of Representatives on Thursday, targeting changes to negative gearing, family trusts and capital gains tax. The government hopes to secure passage through the Senate within weeks. Greens support is required for the measures to clear the upper house.

Greens treasury spokesperson Nick McKim said his party is concerned about provisions granting the government sweeping discretionary powers to alter tax rules after the legislation becomes law. ” Albanese said the changes would make it easier for first home buyers to enter the property market.

He noted that house prices have risen 400 percent since 1999 while home ownership among Australians aged 25 to 34 has fallen by 7 percent over the same period.

“Teachers and nurses and cleaners, police officers, people in retail and hospitality, millions of Australians who work their guts out to make ends meet and provide for their families have probably never even heard of a discretionary trust, and they will never have the means or the opportunity to use one to minimise the tax that they pay,” Albanese said.

” The Coalition opposes the package and intends to move amendments that would split the legislation. The opposition plans to support the $250 Working Australians Tax Offset while voting against the broader reforms.

That effort is expected to fail because of Labor’s large parliamentary majority. Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor pointed to national accounts released on Wednesday that showed a slowdown in GDP growth. ” The former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott was elected unopposed as party president last week.

Albanese also alluded to discussions about an alliance between the Coalition and One Nation. “Those in the ‘Liberal One National’ coalition of the three parties speak about battlers from time to time, but give a battler a wage increase and they hate it,” he said. McKim said the Greens want to examine the legislative instruments during a short Senate inquiry before the bill reaches a final vote.

“We aren’t talking about minor tweaks and adjustments here. The treasurer would have the power to alter these tax changes after it became law,” he told Guardian Australia. Negotiations between the government and the Greens are continuing.

Sources close to the discussions said the Greens’ position on the bill has not yet been determined and that talks have not yet addressed what concessions, if any, the minor party may seek in exchange for Senate support.