Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will be supporting the Treasury Laws Amendment (Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Payments) Bill 2017. The bill gives effect to changes that are proposed by the government to the foreign resident capital gains tax regime, announced in the 2017-18 budget. The bill introduces a measure to change the foreign resident CGT withholding regime, which involves a purchaser withholding an amount of the purchase price if they purchase property from a foreign tax resident.

The government states that this measure is a part of their package to reduce pressure on housing affordability. We think it is stretching things considerably to call a measure like this a housing affordability measure. Badging tax integrity measures like this as housing affordability reform reflects the lack of any real reform from this government on housing affordability. They continue to fail to take meaningful action on negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, as home ownership falls out of reach for everyday Australians.