Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Labor's budget not only smashed savings, hard work, risk and endeavour; it crushed aspiration for future generations—addressing intergenerational equality, my foot! Their cynical disregard for entrepreneurialism is nowhere more to be seen than in their changes to the capital gains tax—the tax Aussies pay when they sell an asset like a business, an investment property, crypto or shares for more than what they started with.

Right now, Australians who hold an asset for more than 12 months will get a 50 per cent discount on their capital gain, and it's been like that for 25 years. But Labor's going to scrap it. Instead, the discount will now be tied to inflation alongside a new 30 per cent minimum tax rate on capital gains. Translation: in most cases people will pay significantly more tax when they sell an asset, unless, as the Cabinet Secretary is so keen to tell us, the government totally stuffs inflation for yet another decade, in which case you might be better off—and, let's face it, they're doing a pretty good job of that. But to base your taxation system on your inability to curb inflation and to tell people that they're better off for it? Have they lost their senses on the government benches?

Flinders will be harder hit than most electorates in Australia because our median age is 48—a full decade older than the Victorian average of 38. More locals are approaching retirement, selling businesses that they've built up over a decade or decades. We've got more tradies and owner-operators than the state average—nearly 18 per cent of workers in Flinders. For many of those who own small businesses, their business is their retirement plan.

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