Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Of course, there's a cost-of-living crisis in Australia, and of course it is being fuelled by corporate greed and price gouging from banks, supermarkets and energy companies. But it is also being fuelled by a tax system that is rigged to reward the wealthy. The clearest example of our tax system being rigged to reward the wealthy is the capital gains tax discount. It is the most regressive, unfair tax break on the tax books at the moment in Australia. It is turbocharging inequality, because it makes it easier for a property speculator to buy their seventh or sometimes their 70th investment property than it is for a renter to buy their first home.

The Prime Minister has been clear that this is not on the table for reform in this parliament. But I say this to the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Labor Party. They took a position on the stage 3 tax cuts to the last election but won, and then they came in and, under pressure from the Greens, community groups and millions of Australians, they actually did change the stage 3 tax cuts—and rightly so. They removed some of the most regressive elements from those stage 3 tax cuts. News flash for Labor: the capital gains tax discount is more regressive than the stage 3 tax cuts were in their original form. For the stage 3 tax cuts, 75 per cent of the benefit went to the top 20 per cent. For the capital gains tax discount, 82 per cent of the benefit flows straight to the top 10 per cent of income earners. Think about that—82 per cent to the top 10 per cent. It is way more regressive than the stage 3 tax cuts.

Labor said they couldn't change the stage 3 tax cuts until they did. They said the stage 3 tax cuts were untouchable until they touched them. Everything can't be reformed until it can be reformed. We have to reform and scrap the capital gains tax discount. If reforming stage 3 tax cuts were possible, scrapping the capital gains tax—which is even more regressive—is absolutely possible. (Time expired)