Capital Gains Tax on Property

Grattan Institute: Reducing the capital gains tax discount would be both good policy and good politics, according to The Guardian. But on Sunday the government announced it would not be making changes to capital gains tax on property or negative gearing in the May budget. Which is why it comes as a surprise when a government in desperate search for ways to repair its budget, takes off the table a measure that could raise substantial revenue – $3.7bn a year – with minimal political pain. Related:Malcolm Turnbull hits back at Grattan Institute over negative gearing Our report released on Monday evening for the Grattan Institute, Hot Property: negative gearing and capital gains tax reform makes the policy case for change. There is a case to offer some discount – taxing gains at the full rate of income tax would mean taxing the component of investment returns that is simply due to inflation. The 50% capital gains tax discount means that the tax rate paid on capital gains is half the rate for other forms of income, such as wages. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.