A trade union has called for sweeping changes to housing tax breaks that it warns have \u201ccommodified\u201d property and worsened inequality.<\/p>\n
The Australian Manufacturing Workers\u2019 Union<\/a> (AMWU) wants the capital gains discount phased out for investment properties and negative gearing effectively abolished.<\/p>\n It also suggests the federal government replace its 5% home deposit scheme<\/a> with one that allows renters to allocate a portion of their rent to buy a property.<\/p>\n The Labor-aligned union is among several stakeholders calling for sweeping changes to the housing tax breaks in submissions to a Greens-led Senate inquiry into the John Howard-era 50% capital gains tax discount.<\/p>\n The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation also recommended winding up the discount, which it feared was \u201cexacerbating inequality, worsening housing affordability and undermining Australia\u2019s long-term social and economic wellbeing\u201d.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n In 2016 and again in 2019<\/a> the Labor opposition under Bill Shorten proposed to cut <\/a>capital gains tax concessions and restrict negative gearing. But the Albanese government has repeatedly rebuffed calls<\/a> to resurrect a version of the plans, arguing that policies to increase supply were the best way to tackle the housing crisis.<\/p>\n Treasury modelled changes<\/a> to the concessions in 2024 but the government chose not to pursue them ahead of last year\u2019s federal election.<\/p>\n In its submission to the inquiry, the AMWU said the nation must \u201creframe\u201d the housing debate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe commodification of houses into a vehicle for accumulating and hoarding wealth has exacerbated inequality and allowed property developers, real estate agents and investors to profit from denying working people the dignity of home ownership,\u201d the submission read.<\/p>\n The AMWU recommended the capital gains discount on investment properties be immediately reduced and phased out entirely over a two-year period.<\/p>\n The discount \u2013 which applies when a property is sold after at least 12 months of ownership \u2013 is expected to cost the federal budget $21.8bn in forgone revenue in 2025-26<\/a>, according to Treasury figures published in December.<\/p>\n The union wants to stop investors using losses to lower their income tax bill, effectively ending the negative gearing of properties.<\/p>\n The revenue recouped by winding-up the concessions should be redirected to developing Australia\u2019s modular housing industry, it argued.<\/p>\n \u201cThe economic and social opportunity of home ownership is slipping out of reach for most workers. In fact, without substantial and real changes to our mindset and to policy, a whole generation is going to miss out,\u201d the submission read.<\/p>\n The AMWU\u2019s position goes further than the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)<\/a> proposal to last year\u2019s productivity roundtable, which called for negative gearing and the capital gains tax breaks to be restricted to a single investment property and grandfathered for five years.<\/p>\n