Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said overhauls to capital gains tax (CGT) would not discourage small business from growing as backlash continues over the proposed changes.
The Albanese government is reportedly considering more concessions for small businesses as campaigning against the proposed shift to a CGT discount based on inflation across all asset classes shows no signs of abating.
In an interview with satirical news outlet The Betoota Advocate, the Mr Chalmers was put on the spot with a “hypothetical” about whether the reforms – that critics say could see some business owners pay up to 47 per cent tax when selling – would discourage growth.
The Advocate’s co-owner Archer Hamilton, better known by his pen name Clancy Overall, drew a comparison with his own business when presenting the scenario.
“The Betoota Advocate is Australia’s oldest newspaper … and we don’t, you know, as a predominantly print rag, we don’t make over $2 million a year (the cut off for small business CGT exemptions),” he said.
“But let’s get into a hypothetical here. Let’s imagine that we started, you know, five years ago and created a … pretty solid media company that published lighthearted social observations and Labor Party propaganda.
“Let’s just say we kind of gassed this business up to what you saw when you walked in today.
“We start thinking about the Australian dream, which is selling … do you think we’ve been discouraged from that kind of growth a little bit here?
“(Because) to think that we could go big and do that, knowing that you’re going to take 47 per cent of it, or we could just walk out there, sack five of them, scale down, pay ourselves double, and then pour that into a big beautiful house in the Gold Coast Hinterland.”
The Treasurer has been steadfast in his defence of the CGT reforms and has pushed back on claims that Australian businesses would be slugged with higher taxes.
Since budget night he has repeatedly said that some asset owners would be better off under the inflation-based model, and few people would end up paying 47 per cent in tax on profits.
Mr Chalmers responded to Mr Archer’s scenario to say: “I don’t think you’ve been discouraged”.
“I mean there’s heaps in the budget outside this change we’re talking about which is encouraging small businesses and start-ups,” he said.
“So there’s about $3.5 billion worth of tax cuts for business, which is partly about
encouraging risk taking and starting up businesses.
“And then when it gets to the capital gains tax … when that change was made in the at the turn of the century, what it did was it made it made established homes way more attractive and it made investing in other kinds of investments like this place uh less attractive.
“So I genuinely don’t see it as discouraging the kind of business formation that you guys have done here.”
The new legislation would replace the current 50 per cent CGT discount for assets held longer than 12 months.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Wednesday the government was exploring options including a possible widening of CGT exemptions for small businesses.
Currently small businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million are eligible for CGT concessions.
Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chief Skye Cappuccio said there was growing concern among the community that the changes discouraged long-term growth.
“What we are hearing very clearly from small businesses is that this is not just a conversation about tax. It is about whether Australia still encourages people to back themselves and build something over the long term,” Ms Cappuccio said.
“Small business owners are telling us they have spent years reinvesting profits back into their businesses, staff and equipment instead of paying themselves larger incomes, because they believed building long-term value through their business would eventually pay off.
“While there are established CGT exemptions for eligible small businesses, the thresholds no longer reflect the realities or operating scale of many modern small businesses.”
Earlier in the podcast interview Mr Archer asked whether the inclusion of CGT changes for business and shares was a distraction from it also being changes for housing investors.
The government plans to scrap negative gearing for any properties bought after budget night and the new CGT scheme would apply from July 2027 if the laws pass parliament.
Mr Chalmers was asked whether the controversial decision to apply CGT reforms to all assets amounted to “throwing bait” because “no one is talking about property”.
“No I haven’t thought about that way,” the Treasurer said.
“The serious answer is the way we’ve done the capital gains tax thing is we didn’t want to introduce more distortions into the tax system.
“We wanted to take this distortion out which has basically meant house prices have galloped ahead of income since the big change was made around the turn of the century by (former prime minister John) Howard and (ex-treasurer Peter) Costello.”