The latest indications suggest the government will move to restrict negative gearing to new properties, while grandfathering existing investments.<\/p>\n
Existing owners would be shielded from changes but future investors would no longer be able to deduct losses on established properties, under such an arrangement.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the government appears ready to overhaul capital gains tax, replacing the 50 per cent discount with an indexation model that taxes inflation-adjusted real gains.<\/p>\n
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino did not rule out any of the changes when asked by Sky News Sunday Agenda.<\/p>\n
“People want governments to have an agenda where they’re willing to look at new policy ideas based on the nation’s longer-term challenges,” he said.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear whether the change would be fully grandfathered or applied through a partial reset, where existing assets are revalued before the new system takes effect.<\/p>\n
Sources have also told Sky News that a tax on family trusts \u2013 used by higher-income households to minimise tax \u2013 remains under consideration.<\/p>\n
While a final decision has not been confirmed, expectations within government circles are that such a measure will be included.<\/p>\n
The tax reform agenda marks a significant shift from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese\u2019s pre-election stance when he ruled out capital gains tax changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe proof’s in the pudding. If we were going to make changes, then why haven’t we?\u201d Mr Albanese told Sky News in May 2025, two days before the election.<\/p>\n
The government did not take any of the floated tax changes to voters at the 2025 election, when it won a supermajority.<\/p>\n
Treasurer Jim Chalmers had also struck a cautious tone earlier in the year, insisting no decisions had been made even as options were being developed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t taken any decisions on (capital gains tax) \u2026 We\u2019re working up a number of tax reform options for the colleagues,\u201d Mr Chalmers told Sky News Sunday Agenda in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut let\u2019s not forget we\u2019ve already got a tax policy, that tax policy hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n
![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/97bf03e89685ffcbc81a2ea72f3fdb70.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Despite those assurances, Mr Albanese has increasingly hinted at his intentions to repeal tax breaks for investors.<\/p>\n
During the week, he linked the government\u2019s economic agenda to concerns about intergenerational equality.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many young people, they feel like they haven\u2019t got a fair crack compared with my generation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, Labor MP Ed Husic confirmed the government was exploring changes to the capital gains tax discount.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think it’s a good thing we’re looking at the CGT discount,\u201d Labor MP Ed Husic told Sky News on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
![\"Speculation](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f40d503cee3d61e2ddadc211a277f90c.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The Coalition has seized on government\u2019s change in position on taxes since the federal election, accusing Labor of preparing a tax grab that will worsen cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said the leaks confirmed the Albanese government was \u201cdoubling down on their failed active inflation agenda\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cLabor\u2019s addiction to spending is driving up the cost of living today and leaving a trillion-dollar-plus debt bomb for my generation, and the next, to pay off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter four years of budgets for an economy Labor built for themselves, real wages have gone backward, our living standards have had the largest collapse in the developed world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labor has been examining a broad package of tax reforms ahead of the May 12 federal budget, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16169,2324,8931,36974,44703,312641,88374,43,312639,312640,10928,44,6895,4961,35747,58247,41,39,42,40,50850],"class_list":["post-646203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-albanese-government","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-auspol","tag-australian-politics","tag-capital-gains-tax","tag-family-trust-tax","tag-federal-budget","tag-headlines","tag-jim-chalmes","tag-may-12-budget","tag-negative-gearing","tag-news","tag-prime-minister","tag-tax","tag-tax-reform","tag-tim-wilson","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-treasurer-jim-chalmers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}