Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Labor's toxic taxes will destroy aspiration in this country, and if the Prime Minister wants to force these toxic taxes onto Australians, he should have the guts to take it to an election. But he won't. He won't because he can't tell the truth. This is a prime minister who leads a government that misleads and deceives every single day, a government that dupes and distorts, a government that says one thing, does another and has a very, very loose association with the truth every single day.

This Prime Minister's word is never his bond. It is never his bond, and Australians absolutely know it now. He promised that Australians would be better off under his leadership. Well, they're not. He promised that their power bills would go down by $275. It's not even close. They haven't. They're up 40 per cent since this hapless energy minister was in place. He promised Australians that they would have cheaper mortgages—not even close. A typical mortgage holder is $35,000 worse off since Labor has come to power. He promised that there would be no changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, in his own words, for the 50th time. Well, surprise, surprise. He's changing them. He's because he changes his mind. He's changing his mind again, and he is whacking new and higher taxes on hard working Australians. No Australian can trust another word that comes out of this bloke's mouth.

Now, did he take his tax increases to the last election? Well, of course not. As I said, he hasn't got the courage. He leads a government that is tricky and is sneaky, and Australians are seeing him for the prime minister he truly is. He's a man who occupies the highest office in the land, but he lacks the character to lead this great country. He absolutely lacks the character to lead this great country. He stands condemned, and his condescending government, the condescending government he leads, stands condemned as well. He's bungled budget confirms that his government is the highest taxing government in Australian history—the highest taxing government—because they are addicted to spending. We know only too well that when Labor runs out of money it comes after yours.

Let us consider Labor's changes to negative gearing. This is purely and simply a tax on housing, on homes. That's what it is. It's a tax on homes. When you put a tax on something, you get less of it. There was one tiny shard of honesty in this government's budget. I think it was snuck through by the bureaucrats worried that there needed to be a little bit of honesty in it. It was on page 158. It snuck through, and I'm sure the 400 staffers they have missed it. They missed this one. Do you know what it said? It said that when you take negative gearing away on housing, you get fewer houses. It snuck through. This isn't a level up for young Australians wanting to get into a home; it's a lock out on homeownership in this country. That's what it is, and that's what this government stands for.

Now we'll go to the next one. We've just done negative gearing. We'll go to capital gains tax. Scrapping the 50 per cent discount is a tax on savings, pure and simple. It's a tax on savings on every asset class—crypto, ETFs, shares, bonds and you name it. It is a tax on Australians trying to build a nest egg. We know that, in an economy that is not working for young Australians, and it's not, so many of them are building up a nest egg so they can buy a home. That's what they're doing. But this government has decided to whack them with a new tax. They want to go after the savings of Australians, and it's not just those who are saving; it's also small businesses.

I heard the Minister for Social Services interjecting during question time on a question about capital gains tax. Do you know what she said when we asked the question? 'Oh, you should just go and see the accountant.' That's what she said. We want to hear what the situation is from the government that's putting these toxic taxes in place. Tell us how it's actually going to work. The truth is that they didn't want to fess up to the fact that this prime minister has said in this House that we're going back to the pre-1999 settings. But we're not. He deceived the Australian people in this chamber. That's what he did, and it is a shame on the Prime Minister that he should choose to do that. We are not going back to the pre-1999 settings. They are planning to hit small businesses, farmers and hardworking Australians harder than ever before because they have run out of money. Labor has started a war on aspiration, and its toxic taxes will obliterate opportunity in this country.

There is a long list of people who think these taxes are wrong for Australia: the Premier of Western Australia, the Premier of New South Wales, Andrew from Parramatta—

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